Princesses of the Zodiac
by 101wuzup1
Summary: What if Tohru had a twin sister? How would that effect the story? How would that effect the boy's relationship with Tohru? And how would it effect Yuki? Based on the anime not the manga with my own twist. Tohru X Kyo, My Character X Yuki
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket, the anime or the manga. The only character I do own is Kouen.  
P.S. The way you pronounce Kouen's name is Co-in. Just a little info tid-bit. Enjoy :)  
P.S.S. The chapter's are going to be long because each chapter is an episode.**

* * *

Tohru Honda walked out of her tent and looked up at the sun. "Ah," she sighed, "Look at that beautiful sky!"

She looked behind her and realized she was alone. "Kouen," she said, "Wake up! We'll be late for school!"

"Mmm," Tohru's twin sister mumbled, "Five more minutes..."

"No, we have to go now silly goose!" Tohru laughed, pulling the small blanket off of Kouen.

Kouen sighed and sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She quickly changed into her school uniform and grabbed her bag. Then they both leaned into the tent and grinned at the smiling picture of their late mother. "See ya later, Mom," Kouen said with a wink.

"Take care of the house while we're gone, okay?" Tohru said with a giggle, "We'll be back!"

The two of them got up and began their daily walk to school. It wasn't very far away from their tent, they had made sure that it wouldn't be hard to get to and from school when they had chosen the spot for their make-shift house. They hadn't always lived in a tent. Up until last May they lived with their mom. It was just the three of them. But then the accident.... After they lost their mother, they began secretly living on there own. It's not exactly comfortable, but it's alright. And it's what they have to do.

As they walked down a small hill, they spotted a nice house nearby. "How long has that been there?" Kouen wondered.

"I don't know," Tohru said.

"Come on let's check it out!" Kouen said excitedly, grabbing Tohru's hand.

"Wait! Someone could be in there! We can't just go look at someone's house!"

Though Tohru and Kouen were identical twins, their personalities were extremely different. Tohru was always smiling and wanting to make people happy. She never wanted to be to much trouble and was rather shy sometimes. She was good at cooking and cleaning and pretty much any house work. Kouen on the other hand hated working, she was very outspoken in front of just about anyone, and she couldn't cook to save her life. She was very protective of her sister and if anyone messed with her they would end up with a black eye. However she was an amazing artist. She could draw such realistic pictures that some people thought they were photographs. Tohru always admired her sister's art work but she was never jealous. She just wasn't that type of person.

They came to the house and walked over to the front porch. "Hey," Tohru said, "Look."

Kouen looked at what Tohru was pointing at and saw little stone models of the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac. "How cute!" Tohru exclaimed.

"My word," someone said above them, "Do my eyes deceive me or are there two strange young girls standong on my porch?"

They both looked up and saw a young adult, maybe thirty years old, standing in front of them, reading the morning paper. "Oh no!" Tohru exclaimed, "We're sorry! We were just looking! We didn't mean to barge in without permission!"

Kouen rolled her eyes at her sister's behavior. Tohru always acted like this when she thought she did something wrong, when in reality she didn't. The man laughed. "It's okay," he assured her, "I've just set them out to dry, no harm done. But I find it hard to believe that these silly little things could attract your interest."

"No I really like them," Tohru grinned, "I don't think they're silly at all."

"Me neither," Kouen said.

"Yes well, I must admit I'm particularly fond of them myself."

Kouen looked back down at the little animals. "Aww, Tohru," she sighed, "They left out the cat!"

"The cat?" the man asked, "Oh, I take it you're refering to the old folk tale of the Chinese Zodiac."

"Uh huh," Tohru nodded, "Our mom told it to us when we were little..."

_"A long long time ago, God decided to invite all of the animals to a banquet." Mother said, "He sent out word for all of them to come to his house the following evening. 'And don't be late,' he said. When the mischevious rat heard the news, he decided to play a trick on his neighbor, the cat. He told the cat that the party was the day _after _tomorrow. The very next day, all of the animals lined up for the celebration, and the rat led the way, riding all the way there on the back of the cow. Everyone had a wonderful time. Except for the foolish cat, who missed the whole thing. Hey, why are you crying?"_

_"Because," Tohru whimpered, "that poor cat, he must be so lonely!"_

_"I know," Kouen said, "We won't be a dog anymore, we'll be a cat too!"_

_"Yeah!" Tohru agreed, hugging her twin sister._

"Funny," the man said, "I wonder what he'll say when he hears he has a fan."

"He?" Kouen and Tohru said in unison.

"You were both born in the year of the dog," he said, "I knew there was something I liked about you. I mean aside from your pretty- Ow!"

A heavy book bag had fallen on the man's head. "Please forgive my cousin Ms. Honda," another voice said, addressing both of them, "He's a bit of a flirt, but he's harmless. In general, it's usually best to just ignore him."

"Yuki Sohma?" Kouen and Tohru gasped.

"What do you have in that bag, dictionaries?" the man asked, rubbing his head.

"No, I have two of them." Yuki responded.

"So," the man mumbled, "You're some of Yuki's classmates from 's start again. I'm Shigure, his older and much less violent cousin."

"Hi, it's very nice to meet you," Tohru replied politely.

Kouen nodded. "And what brings you to our home this morning Ms. Honda?" Yuki asked.

"Well you know we live... nearby," Kouen muttered hesitantly.

"You do?" Yuki asked, "Where at?"

"Uh," the girls stammered.

The boys stared at them. "Okay, I think we'll just be going now." Kouen said, "Come along Tohru!"

Tohru nodded, for once happy for her sister's abrupt attitude. "Well it was nice to meet you," Tohru said as they walked away.

"Wait, Ms. Honda," Yuki said, "Since you're both here, why don't we walk together?"

"Uh... sure," they agreed.

The walk to school was very quiet. Tohru was naturally shy and Kouen wasn't used to talking to boys. She didn't exactly know how to start a conversation. So she used the next best thing. Sarcasm. "Well you guys are sure talkative today," she mumbled.

Tohru blushed but Yuki didn't react. "So..." Kouen tried. Nothing. She sighed and resigned herself to the silence.

They got to school and Yuki said goodbye, going to his locker. That was when they attacked. The Prince Yuki Fan Club. They were a group of girls, dedicated to, well, Yuki. "Okay, start talking!" one of them shouted, "What was that all about?"

"Why were the two of you walking to school with Prince Yuki?" said another, "Details and they better be good!"

"I-it was just a coincidence," stammered Tohru.

"Well for your sake I hope that's all it was!" said that last.

"Every girl in Kawaya High class 1-D knows Yuki Sohma is the best looking boy in school!"

"And he's intelligent!"

"And great at sports!"

"And for your info _we_are the Prince Yuki Fan Club! We've got first dibs sister! So you better stay clear!"

"You're right," Kouen said, "You do have first dibs. I just hope, for your sake, that Yuki likes girls with _black eyes_."

She glared at them menacingly. They stared back. "Hey!" someone shouted behind them.

"What?!" the fangirls shouted back.

They spun around and froze. Arisa Uotani was standing right behind them. "She said it was just a coincedence," Uo said, "Now get lost before those big noses of yours get bruised."

The girls screamed and terror. "Now hold it Yankee!" one of them said bravely, "You're not gonna scare us with that street thug talk!"

"One more word," Saki Hanajima said, "and you'll all get buzzed with electric shocks."

"Ahh!" they all shreiked and ran down the hallway.

"Thanks," Tohru sighed, "I didn't think they'd ever leave."

"Were those catty little girls bothering you?" Uo asked, "Aww. Hana, don't actually shock anyone, okay?"

The four friends walked to the lunch room to get some breakfast. "The truth is," Tohru said, "I was so nervous walking with Yuki this morning. I couldn't talk to him. No, I couldn't even look at him."

"You're tellin' me," Kouen sighed, "I tried to force some words out of the two of you but it was like you lost your voice. You didn't even look up when I made that one wise crack!"

Tohru sighed. "I sense strange electric signals coming from that boy," Hana said quietly.

"Here we go again," Uo groaned, "Hana's electric report."

"Strange how?" Torhu asked.

"I don't know," Hana replied, "He's different."

"What's so bad about being different?" Kouen asked.

"Well, I admit he does seem to have an air of mystery about him," Uo said, "And there are some weird stories floating around too. I hear one of those fan club girls tried to ask him out once, but he just pushed her away. And I mean that literally, right in the hall! Then he left her on the floor and ran off."

"Like I said, I sense strange electric signals," Hana said again.

"Um, let's talk about something else," Tohru said nervously.

"How's that job of yours going?" Uo asked.

"Oh, fine I guess," Tohru smiled.

"Fine?" groaned Kouen, "It's a nightmare! All we do is clean and scrub and clean and scrub!"

Uo laughed. "I know you hate it, K," she said, "That's why I didn't ask you. Anyway, you've been putting in a lot of hours lately, a lot more than usual."

"Yeah sure," Tohru said hesitantly.

"You're having trouble saving up for tutition aren't you," Uo said, looking at both of them.

"No!" Kouen and Tohru said in unison.

"It's just," Tohru mumbled, "well, yeah."

"That's odd," Hana said, "I didn't think tuition here is that expensive, and I don't remember either of you having to work this hard before. Unless something else has changed."

"No everything's is the same-"

"So what is it?" Uo asked, "Yo in some kinda trouble? You owe somebody? Your grandfather's giving you enough to eat right? He isn't taking your money?"

"No," Kouen said slowly, staring at Uo strangely.

"I know, I worry too much!" Uo said with a smile, "But seriously, if you need me to roug hsomeone up for you, you just say the word. Got it?"

"Okay," Tohru grinned innocently.

_Uo's gonna kill us when she finds out! _Tohru thought, _But how can we tell our two best friends that we live in a tent?_

_I can still remember how tough it was on Mom after Dad died_, thought Kouen_, She had to work so hard just to make ends meet! But she never seems to mind. She always had a smile, just like Tohru. It's hard to believe that someone so smart and so strong could be taken away by an accident. _

_After it happened there were a lot of people we could have stayed with, I guess, _Tohru thought,_We chose to live with our paternal grandfather. He was always so nice to us. But he's retired now and living on his savings. We didn't want to be a burden, or at least I didn't, so we promised him we would work to pay for our tutiton ourselves. _

_After four months, the house needed some renovations and Grandfather went to stay with his daughter and her family until the work was done. He asked us if we had a friend here we could stay with. We told him yes but Uo lives in a one room appartment and Hana's got such a large family, we couldn't ask them. They've got enough to worry about. We'd just be in the way. _

_That's when it hit us! If we could somehow live on our own for a while then everyone would be happy. _

They walked back to their lockers and got ready for class. As they turned the corner they saw Yuki at his locker. "Oh," Tohru exclaimed in surprise, "Yuki it's you! I mean it's... hi."

He smiled kindly at them. "It seems we're beginning to make a habit of bumping into each other," he said.

Tohru blushed and Kouen smiled back. The rest of the day went by as usual. When it was over and they were leaving the school, Yuki decided to walk home with them. "It was nice meeting your cousin this morning, he was funny," Tohru said, trying to start a conversation, "And those little Zodiac figurines he made were really cute."

Kouen nodded her agreement, happy that Tohru was being a little more social. "Yes," Yuki said, "But I thought I overheard you say how you wish there was a year of the cat?"

"It's an idea we had when we were kids," Kouen shrugged, "Silly."

"Cats," Yuki muttered, "Useless, foolish creatures."

"Huh?" Tohru and Kouen asked at the same time.

Yuki stopped walking. "Tell me Ms. Honda," he said, "How familiar would you say you both are with the history of the Chinese Zodiac?"

Tohru and Kouen looked at each other nervously. "We know the stories our mom used to tell us." Kouen said.

"Did you know that it was originally nothing more than a simple calender," Yuki said, "a mathamatical system to mark the passage of time. Only later did people begin to use it for things like astrology and fortune telling."

"Oh," Tohru said quietly, "I guess the story about the animals isn't true then."

"No, I'm not really sure how or when the animals first came to represent the years, but I don't believe they were there from the beginning. What I do know is that no time in the history of the Zodiac has the cat ever been included. So you see, the cat has been shunned by society for thousands of years. But as the story is told it still yearns to be accepted. Like I say, a truly foolish animal."

"Sounds like you really don't like cats," Kouen said, giggling awkwardly.

Yuki turned to face them with a smile. He grabbed one of the leaves that was falling from the trees. "I noticed this morning that you're starting to look a bit pale," he said to Tohru, "You should really take better care of yourself."

He turned back away from them and began to walk off. "Perhaps," he said, "we'll bump into each other again, tomorrow."

The two girls stood watching him as he walked off. "Well that was weird," Kouen said with a snort, "Uo was right about that air of mystery thing."

Tohru nodded. "But I'll pretend I didn't hear that pale remark," she said determinedly, "I can't afford top let anything bring me down. I've got too much to do! Beside, Mom probably had it much much worse."

Kouen groaned. "Does that mean we still have to do work today?" she asked.

"Of course," Tohru said, "We have to get enough money for tuition and food now that we are living in a tent."

"Fine," Kouen muttered, "But don't expect me to be a happy helper."

* * *

So they worked. Kouen tried keeping her grumbling to a minimum but she was still constantly muttering to herself. Tohru rushed around, cleaning everything in sight. When they were done they were both exhausted. They walked slowly back to their tent at eleven o'clock that night. "Hi Mom," Tohru said weakly as they walked through the zipper door, "We're home."

Kouen just moaned and collpased on the ground. "I know," Tohru sighed, "It's late but we can't sleep, we still have a paper to write."

"No," Kouen said, "I'll get up early tomorrow or something! Please just let me sleep."

"Come on sleepy," Tohru laughed, "At least go wash off in the creek. We both need to."

"Okay."

Tohru grabbed the towel they had and went back outside, Kouen following close behind. Suddenly Tohru stopped. "What is it?" Kouen asked, pushing past her. Then she saw why her sister had stopped. Right in front of them, staring at them like they were the strangest things on Earth, was Yuki and Shigure Sohma. They stared at each other for a moment before Shigure broke down in hysteric laughter. "Shigure," Yuki muttered, "Don't you think you're over doing it?"

* * *

The Sohma's took the girl's back to their house. They sat down at the table, Shirgure struggling not to explode in laught again. "So," Yuki said, ignoring his cousin, "You've been living in a tent by yourselves?"

"Uh huh," Tohru and Kouen said quietly.

"For how long?"

"I don't know, just over a week." Kouen mumbled.

"That explains it," Yuki said, "All of this land is Sohma property. It seemed odd that we'd suddenly have some new neighbors."

"We're sorry," Tohru said, "But please, can't we stay there a little while longer? It's only for a few more weeks, then we'll go! We don't have much money, but we can pay you."

"Please let us stay!" Kouen begged.

"Those woods aren't too safe," Shigure said, "You've got wild animals, land slides, the occasional weirdo prowling around. It's not a good idea for a couple of girls to be living out there alone."

"So you're done laughing?" Yuki muttered.

"Don't you worry about us!" Tohru said, jumping up, "We're already used to all the bugs! And if we can stand up to them we can stand up to...."

Suddenly she sighed and fell back to the ground. "Ms. Honda!" Yuki said kneeling next to her.

Kouen put a hand on Tohru's forhead and frowned. "You have a fever," she said.

"Ice!" Shigure shouted, jumping up, "I'll get ice! It's in the-!"

He opened the kitchen door and froze. The kitchen was piled high with trash and pretty much anything that would fit in the room. "And you call the woods unsafe," Tohru mumbled.

"Well relatively speaking," Shigure replied.

Suddenly a wolf howled outside. Shigure froze and frowned. "There," he said, "You hear that? There's just been another landslide somewhere."

"Really?" Kouen asked, "But how do you know that?"

"I guess you could say it's instinct," he muttered.

"Was it close?" Yuki asked.

"Close to the tent- uh I mean not at all!"

Kouen gasped and jumped up. "We have to check it out," she said sternly.

* * *

The unusual foursome walked back to the tent. When they got there they saw a huge pile of dirt where the tent used to be. "Oh this is terrible!" Tohru shouted, "Mom's picture was still in there!"

Her and Kouen ran forward and frantically started digging through the dirt with their hands. "Mom!" Kouen shouted, "Mom we're coming!"

"Please, Ms. Honda," Yuki said to Tohru, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Calm down, you already have a fever."

"But Mom," Tohru said weakly, "What are we going to do? If we don't get her out soon she'll be..."

Shigure took her hand. "Don't strain yourself," he said calmly, "We'll come back when it's brighter. I think your mom's probably glad it wasn't you in there. I think she'd be upset if either of you go hurt now. Don't you?"

Tohru nodded and stood back up. Kouen put an arm around her and they walked back to the Sohma's house. Shigure made a little bed on the ground in one of the empty rooms for the two of them to share. "There," he said as they got comfortable, "Isn't that better? Yuki's still looking for some ice if you want it."

"I'm sorry," Tohru whispered.

"You must be tired," Shigure smiled, "It's a lot to happen in one day."

"Mmmhmm," she mumbled, "I lost my home again."

Kouen shivered, despite the heat radiating off of her sister's body. "Are you okay?" Shigure asked.

"Yes," Tohru replied, "It's sad. But not as sad as other things."

"Like what?"

"Like not telling Mom to be safe on the day she died," Tohru whispered, "I said that every morning. 'Goodbye, be safe!' Except that day. I didn't say it. I had a test, so I stayed up studying almost the whole night. But when it was time for Mom to go to work, I didn't wake up. I couldn't tell her be safe. And she never came home. I used to think about quiting school, working. Mom told me she didn't finish school, but she always wished that she did. When she said that, that's when I knew why she worked so hard, it was all for us, me and Kouen. And with everything she did, I couldn't even get up long enough to say goodbye when she was walking out the door. Not even that one little thing. And then she was gone. So now I have to finish high school like Mom wanted me too, no matter what. I have to hold that diploma in my hand. I have to. For her. I can't give up... just because... it hurts... like this...."

Kouen blinked the tears away and acted like she was sleeping. She didn't want Shigure to ask where she had been on the morning of her mother's death. Her story was different than Tohru. The night before, Kouen had asked if she could go to a party with Ou. Her mother had refused and told her to stay home and study with Tohru. They got in a fight and Kouen had stormed upstairs and not spoken to her the rest of the night. Or the next morning. And then she died. Kouen and Tohru's mother was gone, and Kouen didn't even get to say she was sorry, or that she loved her. Kouen bit her lip to keep from crying. Suddenly she heard the door open and Yuki started talking. "It's amazing," he said quietly, "She always seemed so cheerful at school. You'd never guess she's been suffering like this for so long."

He was quiet for a while and Kouen thought he had left. "When I was young," he said finally, "there were many times I wanted to run away from Sohma house. I never did, I could always find some rationaliztaion to stay. The fact of the matter was I just wasn't strong enough or I could have left. I could have lived in the woods, by myself in a tent. I could have done what they did."

He sighed. "You can call it amazing," Shirgure said, "but I don't think the word does it justice."

"No," Yuki said, "No it doesn't. Do you mind keeping an eye on them? I'd like to go out for a while."

"What?" Shigure asked, "Where? You're not going to try digging out that tent? You are, aren't you. Do you want me to come with you? It won't be an easy job for you alone."

"You're right," Yuki said, "But I don't think I said I was going alone."

"Be safe Yuki," Shigure said as the mysterious boy left the room.

* * *

The next morning, Kouen's eyes flickered open to the smiling face of her mother. It took her a moment to process the information then she gasped and sat bolt upright. "Mom!" she exclaimed.

Tohru yawned next to her and sat up. "Mom's back!" Kouen said, pointing at the picture.

Tohru's eyes widened and she gasped too. "Good morning," a voice said from outside the open door.

They both looked up and saw Yuki standing there, holding a few bags and smiling at them. "How are you feeling today?" he asked, like a friendly nurse at a hospital.

"Um, I guess I..." Tohru trailed off awkwardly.

"I've brought your things for you," he said setting the bags down on the porch, "I think this is all of them. if you'd like to check."

"Huh?" the twins exclaimed.

"Yuki!" Kouen said, "This must have taken you all night!"

He laughed and smiled. "Don't be silly," he said.

"So, then how did you... I mean there were so much!" Tohru said.

"It's a secret," he said mysteriously.

_Creepy! _Kouen thought but she was still very thankful.

"Oh," Tohru said simply.

"I know the place is dirty..." he said.

"What?" the twins asked.

"And I realize that the idea of living with two strange boys might seem a little awkward," he continued, "But there is an extra room upstairs, you're welcome to stay there if you like."

Tohru's eyes widened. "No no no! Out of the question!"

"We're not that strange," Yuki mumbled.

"No I didn't mean it like that!"

"Come on Tohru!" Kouen begged, "Just until Grandfather's house is finished!"

She jumped down from the porch and walked over to Yuki. "Wook at his wittle face," she said in a baby voice.

Yuki blushed and Tohru just stared at her. "Okay if you won't do it for him, do it for me!" Kouen sighed, "I don't wanna live in a tent for the next few weeks! I want a bed and food and indoor plumbing!"

"Of course it won't be free," Shigure said, making Tohru jump, "I do intend to pay you for your services."

Tohru and Kouen stared at him. "Services?" they asked.

"As our brand new housekeepeer!" he shouted as if he was unveiling a prize.

Yuki and Shigure grabbed they're bags and carried them in the house. "We'll just take your bags to your room then," he said, "I assume your references will all check out."

"Wait we can't let you do this!" Tohru shouted, "Not after all the trouble you've gone through already! Please it's too much!"

"Ms. Honda," Yuki said, "We're doing this because we want to. You don't have to worry that it's causing us any trouble. And besides, where else can you go?"

The two girls were silent. "He's got a point," Kouen mumbled.

"Well if we're gonna stay here, we'll work for room and board and that's it," Tohru said, "I don't want any money."

"But I'll take some if you have any."

"Kouen!"

"Fine, no money."

"Relax," Yuki grinned, "You can do things your own way here. The only thing you have to do is be yourself. Fair enough?"

_Just be yourself! You'll be fine._

"All's well that ends well I guess," Tohru mumbled.

Kouen sighed and looked around. "I'm still not sure how we ended up in Yuki's house... or borrowing some of his clothes," she said self consiously.

"It's like being in a dream," Tohru agreed.

"I apologize for the smell," Yuki said opening one of the windows in the vacant room Tohru and Kouen would be staying in, "We've had this room closed off for some time. It's probably best to keep the windows open for a while."

Suddenly the roof seemed to explode and bits of wood fell down on the three of them. "What that hell?!" Kouen cused, ducking out of the way just in time.

When the dust cleared, they saw a boy about their age with bright orange hair standing in front of them. "Yo," he smirked, "It's time to pay the piper, rat boy! I'm here to collect!"

Yuki turned around and leaned against the window. "Funny," he said, "I would have thought he'd send somebody bigger."

Orange Top glared at Yuki. "That's right, you better get your tough talk out of the way while you can," he shouted, "'Cause I'm about to wipe that stupid little smirk right off your face!"

He lunged at Yuki, obviously out for blood. "Wait!" Tohru shouted, "Stop! Don't fight!"

She ran forward and slipped on a piece of wood. She fell forward and grabbed Orange Top around the waist. There was an explosion and a puff of orange smoke. Tohru landed on the ground with a thud. "Yuki," Shigure said, walking in, "What were all those craching sounds I just heard? Kyo's not here is he?"

Tohru jumped up. "I'm so sorry!" she shouted, "Are you alright I-!"

She froze as she looked at Orange Top. Or what used to be Orange Top. "That's a-" Kouen whispered.

"Gyaa! I turned him into a cat!" Tohru shouted, waving the little orange cat around, "I'm so sorry! I don't know how that happened, but we're going to help you okay! Hurry we need to get him to a doctor right away!"

"Tohru look out!" Kouen shouted, pointing at a piece of wood that was falling from the broken ceiling.

But the debris hit Tohru anyway. She stumbled under the impact and kareened into Shigure and Yuki. There was a poof of blue and pink dust and the other two boys were gone. Tohru looked around and saw a dog sitting in Shirgure's clothes and a rat sitting in Yuki's clothes. "I think this all must be a dream," Kouen said weakly, "Everyone's turning into animals!"

* * *

**Well that's chapter one! I hope you liked it and don't forget to review! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of Fruits Basket :)**

Tohru grabbed the dog and Kouen grabbed the cat and rat. They both rushed down the stairs frantically. "Call a doctor!" Tohru shouted, "Or a vet or something!"

They ripped open the door and were surprised to see the postman staring at them. "Mr. Postman!" Tohru cried, "It's terrible you see their animals!"

"Well, uh," the postman stammered, "Yes they certainly are. Here's your mail."

He held out an envelope. "No no, we've gotta do something!" Tohru shouted.

Kouen just looked at the animals curiously. She didn't seem to be concerned. The dog crawled from tohru's arms and took the envelope in his mouth. They all stare at him for moment. "Well, I wish my dog was that smart!" the postman said, tipping his hat, "Good day!"

Tohru sighed and sank to the ground. The cat and rat jumped from Kouen's arms and ran to opposite sides of the room. "Dammit!" the cat shouted, "How am I supposed to come up with an excuse if both of you transformed too?!"

"Don't you dare try to blame this on us you stupid cat!" the rat shouted from atop the dog's head.

"Go ahead! Say that again!"

"Stupid cat."

"Why you little-!"

"Cut it out!" the dog shouted, flinging the rat onto his tail, "Both of you!" His voice sounded exaclty like Shigure's.

"You mean they talk too?" Tohru mumbled weakly.

"Well this is an interesting turn of events," Kouen sighed, sitting on the ground next to Tohru.

"Anyway it's too late for excuses," the dog said, "We might as well tell them the truth."

He turned to the girls. "Tohru, Kouen," he said, "I'm a dog. Yuki here, he's a rat."

He looked over at the orange cat hissing in the corner. "That's Kyo," he said, "Don't let hs temper scare you, he's got a bit of a chip on his shoulder."

"So this is... normal?" Tohru asked.

"Strange choice of words, but yes," Shigure said, "Our family has lived with this curse for generations. We transform into the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac."

The cat hissed again. "Sorry, twelve animals plus the cat. Anyway, whenever our bodies come under a great deal of stress or when we're hugged by a member of the opposite sex we transform. After a little while we change back. The only thing is, uh-."

Poof! "-we're naked."

"Ahh!" the girls shrieked as they spun around and covered their eyes with their hands to avoid seeing the naked boys.

* * *

A few minutes later, when everyone was dressed, they all sat down at the table. Except Kyo who was content to sulk on the porch. "Well," Shigure sighed, "we must seem pretty strange to you at this point, huh."

"Uh," the girls stuttured.

"Bu it's not your fault if your family's cursed," Tohru said.

_A family curse,_ Kouen thought,_ I guess that would explain a few things. If Yuki turns into an animal whenever a girl hugs him, that must have been why he pushed that fan club girl in the hall. He didn't want her to find out his secret!_

"Didn't you say you used to wish you could be a cat?" Shigure asked the girls curiously.

"Yeah," they answered in unison.

"What's it like seeing the real thing?"

Tohru and Kouen looked over at Kyo. "Right!" Tohru said, "It's the cat from the Chinese Zodiac! Like in the story!"

"Yes, it's hard to believe, I know," Shigure said with a smirk, "And I agree the phrase 'cat-like reflexes' doesn't really apply to him, the way he let you fall on him like that. But he is a cat, thought he is clumsier that most. Surprising really ocnsidering the amount of martial arts training he's had. I'm sure he'd tell you the same thing himself if he wasn't so busy brooding like a child-."

"Would you shut-up!" Kyo shouted, jumping up form his position, "I told you it's not my fault! If you wanna blame somebody, blame them! They shouldn't even be here!"

He pointed a finger at the girls angrily. "Who we choose to allow into this house is really none of your concern," Yuki snapped, "You're the one who doesn't belong here."

Kyo snapped and pounded a fist into the table, sending it flying. The corner hit Tohru in the forhead. They all froze as it slid to the floor. "Hey!" Kouen shouted, jumping up, "What'd you do that for! She didn't do anything to you!"

Tohru reached up and grabbed her sister's hand. "I'm fine Kouen," she assured.

A small drip of blood ran down her forhead. "Tohru, you're bleeding," Shigure said, getting a napkin to fix it.

Yuki swung his arm back and slapped Kyo across the face. Kouen giggled evily. "I knew that Kyo was rechless with is temper," Shigure said, "but to act like this...."

"You're still as stupid as ever," Yuki said coldly, "and I'm going to prove it to you by giving you exaclty what you want. Only this time, I won't hold back."

Kyo smiled. "Okay, Sissy Boy!" he shouted lunging at Yuki.

"No Yuki!" Tohru shouted.

"Get 'em Yuki!" her twin shouted.

"Don't worry," Shigure said calmly, "This goes back a lot farther than just today. Those two do nothing but fight whenever they see each other."

"But, uh," Tohru stammered, "Shouldn't we stop them?"

"Are you kidding?" Kouen smirked, watching the fight excitedly, "This is the most fun I've had all week! Get em' Yuki! Go! Yes! No! Come on, dammit! Stop dodging and hit that stupid cat!"

Yuki glanced at her for half a second and winked. Then he nailed Kyo in the chest with his foot and sent him flying through the door and out into the yard. "I told you I wouldn't hold back," he said, "You should have listened."

"He... sent him flying," Tohru mumbled.

"Yes!" Kouen shouted victoriously.

"Yuki, try not to destroy my houes, okay?" Shirgure said.

"I didn't mean to put him in the yard," Yuki said innocently, "He should learn to keep his gaurd up."

He seemed rather pleased with himself when he saw how much Kouen seemed to enjoy Kyo's pain. Then he looked at Tohru. "Ms. Honda," he said, "You're hurt."

"Oh, it's fine!" Tohru said, "Really I'm okay! But... I'm not so sure about him."

She glanced behind Yuki at Kyo who was still lying on the ground. "No the only thing he's bruised is his ego." Yuki smirked.

"I'm guessing your dreams of being a cat are pretty much shattered at this point," Shigure said.

"I don't mind cats," Kouen said, "I just don't like him."

"Well I don't know," Tohru said, "I wouldn't--."

Just then Kyo jumped up and ran into the woods. "--say that." Tohru mumbled sadly.

_It's hard to believe, _Kouen thought, _All the kids call Yuki a prince, but I didn't think he could really be so... noble. I just thought it was because he was cute and good at sports, but this... I've never seen him act like this at school. _

"School!" Tohru and Kouen shouted at the same time. Thought Tohru was a little more enthusiastic.

"Oh no!" Tohru shouted, "We're late, we're late, we're late!"

They both rushed to their room and threw on their uniforms. "I'm not so sure you want to go in that uniform." Shigure pointed out.

The girls froze and looked at themselves. Their outfits were covered in dirt from the landslide. "Ah," Shigure grinned, "Suddenly they remember their adventures in the woods."

"I don't know," Tohru said, "It's not that bad, maybe no one will notice."

"Oh I think they will."

"You're right," Tohru sighed, "but we promised Mom, we have to go to school."

"Fine," Shigure said, "Don't let me stop you. A promise is a promise. Which reminds me, I will have to tell Akito about everything that's happened this morning."

"You have to tell who?" the twins asked.

"Oh sorry," Shigure said sheepishly, "He's the head of the family."

Kouen blinked. "So then I guess," she said slowly, "this Akito... he must be someone really important huh?"

She glanced at Yuki and saw that his look had changed from indifferent to severely aggitated. "Well, he is to us at least," Shigure said, "And efter all we did just give away the big Sohma family secret."

"Oh right," Tohru said brightly, "That does make sense. But we really are late."

They walked out of the house, Kouen still thinking about how Yuki had looked when Shigure had mentioned Akito. They walked quickly to school and Uo let them use the washing machine to clean there clothes. "Thanks, Uo," Kouen smiled.

"Believe me," Uo said, "I did us all a favor. Now how did you say you got so dirty?"

Suddenly the Prince Yuki Fan Club popped out of nowhere. "So Ms. Honda's how come the dirty clothes?" one of them shouted in their faces, "Did Prince Yuki give you the ditch?"

They all laughed at their own joke. Kouen's blood boiled. Hana pushed her way in front of them and pretended to zap them. They shrieked and ran down the hallway. "Good gried those girls give me a headache," Uo complained, "Their Prince doesn't show so they have to bother someone, but why you I wonder."

"Oh well," Tohru said hurriedly, "Silly silly, I'd better go change now."

Kouen nodded and followed her sister. "Wait," she said, "There is a bathroom by the art room. I think I'll change there instead. See ya later."

She waved goodbye to her sister and jogged to the girls bathroom. When she changed she walked back out and was surprised to see Yuki standing in front of her. "Hey," she grinned.

"So did you tell them?" he asked, "Your friends, about this morning."

"Yep, everything," Kouen said with a straight face, "Right down to the puffs of smoke."

Yuki's eyes widened in horror. "Kidding," laughed Kouen, "I'd never tell anyone! I swear! Mom always said it's not right to gossip!"

"No really," he said, "It's ok--."

"I'll write it in blood if you want! Cross my heart and hope to die, whatever it takes for you to believe me!"

Suddenly Yuki sighed and pinned her against the wall, his hands on either side of her. "That's not what I meant," he snapped.

Kouen blinked. "I'm sorry," he apologized, "I do believe you when you say you'll keep our secret. But it doesn't matter, we still might have to erase your memory. It won't harm you. It something like hypnotism. You'll simply forget everything you saw this morning. I know this because this isn't the first time someone had learned about us. It happened when I was seven years old. I was playing with some other children in the garden behind our house. After that they had to erase everyone of those children's memories."

His eyes glazed over as if he were remembering something. His arms slid down from the wall, freeing Kouen. "Yuki?" she asked, "Are you alright?"

He sighed. "But I..." he mumbled, "I can't go against Akito, whatever it is. I can't stop him no matter how much I might want to. That's why... I'm sorry."

He rushed off down the hall. "Wait!" Kouen shouted.

She ran after him and grabbed his arm. He stopped and she accidently ran into him. There was a puff of pink smoke and Yuki turned into a rat. Kouen groaned and leaned her head against the wall. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's alright," he said, "Just as long as no one else saw."

Kouen reached down and picked up the little rat. "What I wanted to say was, thatnk you for being concerned about me," she said, "But really, it's okay! i'm fine, I'm not scared. So don't worry! I'm mean I completely understand if you and your family don't want anyone to know about your secret. That's why it's called a secret, right? So whatever you decide is fine with me. I want you to do whatever makes you feel the most comfortable. You can erase my memory, but afterwards, promise you'll still be my friend?"

Suddenly there was another puff of pink smoke and Yuki turned back to normal. Kouen gasped and spun around to face the wall, her face growing bright red. "Sorry," Yuki apologized as he pulled on his clothes, "The amount of time before we change back, varies a bit."

"It's okay," Kouen mumbled to the wall.

When he was done, put his tie around his neck and laughed awkwardly. Kouen turned around and laughed too. "Yuki," she said, "Where did you learn to tie a tie?"

Yuki looked down at the mess of a knot he had attempted. "I guess I've never been very good at this sort of thing," he said sheepishly.

"Don't feel bad," Kouen said, "Nobody's perfect."

She walked forward and fixed the mess. She looked up and her eyes met his unique purple ones. They were watching her with such intensity that she blushed and looked back down. "Good thing you have me here," she said.

"Ms. Honda," he said after a few moments, "It really didn't bother you to see?"

"Oh, don't worry I closed my eyes in time," Kouen said with a wink.

"No I didn't mean that," Yuki said hastily.

Kouen stared at him in confusion. "So can I walk you to class?" he asked.

"Sure," she said, "But I'm not going to homeroom first. My class is this way."

She pointed down the hall behind her. "What is your first class?" Yuki asked.

"Art," Kouen answered happily, "It's my favorite class! I love to draw."

"Really?" Yuki asked, "I'd like to see one of your drawings sometime."

"Okay!" Kouen replied excitedly.

They walked down the hall to the small art room at the end. Yuki looked at her as they walked. "Thank you," he said quietly.

"No problem," Kouen said with a smile, "Fixing ties is my sepecialty."

Yuki laughed and she grinned at him. "Well, I guess I'll see you later," she said when they got to her class.

"Bye Ms. Honda," Yuki said with a wave.

She paused before she opened the door. "You know, you don't have to sound so formal," she said, "It's kinda confusing when you call both Tohru and I Ms. Honda. You can just call me Kouen."

She opened the door and walked in without another word. "Bye," Yuki mumbled, "Kouen."

* * *

After school, Yuki, Tohru, and Kouen walked home together. "We're back!" Yuki called into the house when they got home.

"Hello?" Tohru shouted, "We're home from school!"

"Shigure?" Yuki said as he opened Shigure's office door. The room was empty. "He must have gone out." Yuki said to himself.

"We're gonna go put away our bags," Tohru said as she and Kouen walked up the stairs.

"Okay," Yuki replied.

They walked into their new room and saw Kyo standing on a ladder, fixing the ceiling. He jumped down when they came in. He glared at them cooly. The girls blinked in response and looked up. There was a large tarp covering the hole Kyo had jumped through this morning. "Don't freak out," Kyo said, "It's only temporary. You can call someone to fix it better later. This will at least keep the rain out until then."

"Yes," Tohru said, "Thank you!"

They were quiet for a while. "Hey!" Kyo shouted,

"I'm here!" Tohru said with a start.

Kouen sighed at her sister's insecurites. "I'm not very good at controlling my temper," Kyo said through gritted teeth, "When I get angry, I... I don't know, maybe I don't have enough training. I just... I can't stand losing to that damn Yuki! So about this morning... it wasn't...what I mean it... I'm so-!"

"I'm home! Yuki, Tohru, Kouen, are you here!" Shigure shouted from downstairs, "And Kyo, I hope your not doing something stupid and tearing up my house again!"

"Oh forget it!" Kyo shouted and stormed out of the room and down the stairs.

"Wait!" Tohru shouted, running after him, "Please don't go!"

But he was already out the front door and out of sight. "He'll be back," Shigure said, "It's not like he has anywhere else to go. But nevermind him could you two come in here for a second?"

"Uh, okay," Tohru said hesitantly.

They both walked into the kitchen and sat down next to Yuki at the table. "I had a little talk with Akito today," Shigure said.

The three teenagers watched him anxiously. "He's decided that as long as the two of you can keep our secret, you can stay here." he continued.

Kouen sighed. "Good," she said.

"So there's no punishment then?" Tohru asked.

_Yuki must have told her too, _Kouen thought.

"Punishment?" Shigure asked, "Why would we... you can keep the secret?"

"Yes!" Tohru said happily, "That's great news! I won't have to lose my memory!"

Later, Tohru and Kouen heard Shigure and Yuki talking about Akito. "Excuse me," Tohru said shyly, "I'm sorry to interrupt, it's just that you've been so nice to us. I hope it's no trouble."

"Uh, no," Yuki stammered, "No of course it isn't!"

"Make yourself at home, okay?" Shigure said with a smile.

"Okay!" the twins said in unison."

* * *

The next day they didn't have to go to school, so Tohru convinced Kouen to help her clean the kitchen. Yuki opened the door and the girls gasped. Trash was everywhere and all kinds of rotting foods were just laying about. They stared in shock at the mess in front of them. "Well it's not gonna clean itself!" Tohru said after she had gotten over the initial shock.

"I bet it could," Kouen mumbled, "Some of this stuff looks like it could crawl away by itself."

"I'll help you," Yuki said, "Just tell me what to do."

"You'd better not." Shigure said, "The closest thing Yuki's ever seen to a mop is that haircut of his. I think he'd just get in the way."

"That's alright," Tohru smiled, "We'll take care of it. We did all make a deal that we would do the house work in exchange for our room. We wouldn't be earning our keep if we let you two help us."

"Well I can see we're in good hands," Shigure smiled, "I'm going to go find Kyo and I'll be out with him for a while. We should be back by lunchtime."

"Sure just leave it to us!" Tohru said.

"In that case, I guess I'll go out too," Yuki said.

"Fine we'll be done when you get back."

The two boys left while the two girls put on their aprons and hair ties. "What were you thinking?" Kouen moaned, looking at the work in front of them, "I don't even know where to start!"

"But Kouen and Tohru Honda never give up!" Tohru shouted.

She grabbed two of the many trash bags and began taking them all outside. Kouen cleaned off the counters and emptied the spoiled from the fridge. When all the trash bags were gone, Tohru started mopping the floor. It took a long time but they were finally finished after a couple of hours. "Phew," Tohru said, "And that's that!"

Kouen collapsed on the counter just as Yuki walked in. "Amazing!" he exclaimed, "If I didn't know better, I'd say I'd walked into the wrong house."

He saw the rice cooker on the counter and raised an eyebrow. "Since when do we have a rice cooker?" he asked.

"I found it in the trash," Tohru said happily, "Oh by the way, I hope you've got your appetite, because lunch is almost ready!"

"Thank God!" Kouen exclaimed, "I'm starving!"

Yuki and Kouen set the table and Tohru put out the food. They all sat down and began to eat. "It's delicious!" Yuki exclaimed after taking a bite.

"You think so?" Tohru asked nervously, "You don't htink it's too bland?"

"It's perfect," Yuki assured her, "The best lunch I've ever had. The two of you are wonderful cooks!"

"She is," Kouen corrected, "If I made the meal, you'd be dead by now."

Yuki laughed and continued eating. "That reminds me," he said, "I wonder where Shigure and that stupid cat ran off to."

"I don't know," Tohru shrugged, "He said they'd be back by lunchtime."

"Well shame on them," Yuki said, "It's rude to let a meal this good get cold."

"Oh yeah," Kouen remembered, "You went out for a little while too. Where did you go? Shopping?"

"Oh no," Yuki smiled, "I just went out back to my secret base."

"What?" Kouen said excitedly, "You mean like a fort or an underground hideout? That sounds sp exciting!"

"I don't think it's quite as elaborate as what you're thinking," Yuki mumbled, "But I'll tell you what, next time I'll take you both with me."

"What?" the twins shouted, "Do you really mean it? We're going to a secret base!"

"I've always wanted to see one in person!" Tohru said, "The neighborhood boys had one when we were kids but they told us girls weren't allowed. I can't wait to see-!"

"Stop!" Shigure shouted as Kyo slammed open the door, "Kyo just listen to me!"

"I don't wanna hear it!" Kyo shouted, "You think it's fun jerking me around like that!"

"Now hold on it wasn't... okay it was a little bit fun, but that's not why I did it, it was for your own good! And don't forget it was Akito's decision."

"Shut up!" Kyo shouted, "I don't give a damn about Akito!"

"Are you hungry?" Tohru asked quietly, "I made you some lunch."

"Shut up!" Kyo shouted in her face.

"Kyo!" Shigure scolded, "Don't take this out on Tohru! And use the front door next time! And take off your shoes!"

"You're setting a fine example," Yuki said as Shigure struggled to pull his own shoes off.

"This is the first time I've seen you in a suit," Tohru said, "I looks good on you."

"You don't say," Shigure said happily.

"You look like a butler," Yuki and Kouen said at the same time. They looked at each other and blushed.

"Oh, lunch is ready!" Shigure noticed.

"Yes," Torhu said, "But shouldn't we see about Kyo?"

"Oh him?" Shigure grinned, "He just needs to let off some steam. He's angry that I made him take an entrance exam."

"Entrance exam?" Kouen asked, "For what?"

"Funny you should ask," he mumbled, "As of today, Kyo is officially the newest student at your school. Oh and he's also going to be living with us from now on too."

Yuki stood up and glared down at Shigure. "Don't you take a single bite," he growled menacingly, "Get out!"

"Well," Shigure said nervously, "I had a feeling you'd be upset."

He turned to the girls. "You see, Kyo pulled a bit of a vanishing act on us. He just up and dissappeared for four months. Do you know where he dissappeared to? He was up on a mountain top training."

"What kind of training?" Tohru and Kouen asked.

"Let me guess," Yuki muttered, "He's been meditating under waterfalls and fighting bears?"

"I'm not so sure about that part," Shigure mumbled, "The point is, Kyo really wants to beat Yuki."

Everyone looked at Yuki. "Stupid cat," he muttered.

* * *

The next day at school, Kyo sat at his desk surrounded by curious teenage girls. "I wonder if he can tell us about Yuki?"

"He's so cute!"

"Not as cute as Yuki!"

"Where is he?"

"Oh, I think he's amazing! Oh wow! Oh my goodness!"

"What do you think? Is he really Prince Yuki's cousin?"

"I'll bet he knows everything about him!"

Kyo sat sraight up in his chair, his bright orange air standing on end. "Poor Kyo," Tohru sighed, "He looks so scared."

"They're the same," Hana said, "His electric signals are exactly the same as Yuki's. I don't know but there's something about them that's almost inhuman."

"What?" Kouen mumbled, "Pshh, no! Heh heh...."

Uo laughed. "Hana, that's just rude," she said.

They all looked up as the door slid open and Yuki walked in. "Hey," Uo said, "Question. So this new guy, is he really you cousin?"

"Yes that is the rumor going around," Yuki said, "I'd prefer to leave it at that."

As Yuki walked away, Kyo jumped up from his seat and tried to escape. "Hey I thought we were talking," one of the girls shouted after him, "Wait come back!"

She charged over to him and grabbed his arm. He grabbed her and flipped her onto her stomach, pulling her arm behind her back. "What are you doing?" the girl screamed.

"Kyo I don't think that's a good idea," Tohru called.

Kouen jumped up and, doing the only thing that didn't put her at risk of hugging him, grabbed his hair and yanked him off of the defenseless fangirl. He glared at her and everyone else in the room. "Leave me alone!" he shouted.

Then he ran over to the window, shoved it open and jumped out. The problem: they were on the third floor. But that didn't stop him. He landed perfectly on all fours, just like a cat. Then he jumped up and sprinted away from the school. "Amazing!" one of the girls said, "That proves it! He's definately related to Prince Yuki!"

"I can't believe he jumped."

"Hey aren't you forgetting about me! I did just get my arm ripped off!"

Uo laughed. "That was hysterical," she said, giving Kouen a high five, "He looked like a cat trying to get out of a bath!"

Tohru sighed. _Poor Kyo, _Tohru though, _He really is like the cat from the old story Mom. He must feel so alone right now. But who knows, maybe... maybe one day we can be friends_.


	3. Chapter 3

**Me: Okay just so you know I own none of Fruits Basket anything. The anime and the manga do not belong to me.**

**Kyo: Thank God!**

**Me: Hey! Don't yell at me what did I do to you!**

**Kyo: Nothing yet but I can tell you are going to do something. Just look at the look on your face!**

**Me: *smiles innocently* What? Me? No! Heh heh...**

**Kyo: Whatever just get on with it.**

* * *

Kyo sat next to the wall, breathing heavily after running so fast. Those girls had been crowding around him, they were so close. And that one girl had even tried to hug him! He glared at the ground until he saw a pair of familiar feet walk over to him. "Hey," Yuki muttered, "What were you trying to prove pulling a stunt like that? Think, if you act like an idiot, I'm the one whose going to hear about it."

"It serves you right," Kyo replied, "Why do you wanna go to a school with all these crazy, giggling girls anyway?"

"I suppose you'd prefer I live my life in fear of being transformed," Yuki said, "You sound like Akito. He though I should attend an all boys academy too. Which is why I came here, to get away from him and out of that house."

Kyo looked up. "What do you know," he mumbled, "You're a spoiled little rat."

Kouen and Tohru were walking around the campus, trying to find Kyo. They stumbled upon the boys, but stayed hidden behind a wall to see what they were talking about. "You want out?" Kyo hissed, standing up, "Fine! But as for me, I'm gonna prove it once and for all that I'm better than you! And then I'm gonna take my place as a true member of this family! I'm not gonna be left out anymore!"

He ran over to Yuki and grabbed his colar. "Do you hear me rat boy!" he shouted in Yuki's face.

"No!" Tohru shouted running out of hiding.

"Tohru wait!" Kouen shouted.

But it was too late. Her sister rushed forward and grabbed Kyo, immediately turning him into a cat. Kouen groaned and Yuki sighed. Tohru blushed. "I am so sorry!" she mumbled, "But I saw what was going on and I guess I just panicked! I'm sorry that you're angry but fighting at school isn't a good idea, you'll get in huge trouble if they catch you, and on your first-!"

"Shut up," Kyo hissed.

Tohru froze. "Who do you think you are!" Kyo shouted, "This is between me and him, it has nothing to do with you! You stupid little girl! From now on just stay the hell away from me!"

They all stared at him and Tohru. Tohru stood up and turned around. "Okay that was maximum rage," she mumbled.

"No, that was minimum rage compared to what I'm about to unleash!" Kouen shouted, lunging at Kyo, "I'll teach you to talk to my sister that way you little-!"

"Kouen!" Tohru shouted, grabbing her sister, "No! It was my fault! Let's just go."

Kouen sighed and gave Kyo a you-better-learn-how-to-sleep-with-your-eyes-open look. "He hates me," Tohru whispered as they walked away, "That's all there is to it, he really hates me."

When they were gone, Yuki sighed. "You are truly an idiot," he muttered.

"So what," Kyo growled, "You gonna hit me now?"

"Actually I was hoping Kouen would do it this time," Yuki mumbled, "But now wouldn't hurt more if I didn't."

He walked away, leaving Kyo to think about all the horrible thngs he had just drilled into that poor girl's head.

* * *

Tohru sat kneeling under the fire extinguisher, thinking about how much Kyo hated her. "Here she is," Kouen said, leading Uo and Hana over to her sister, "I can't get her to move."

"Hey," Uo said, "What are you doing kneeling in the hall? Class has-."

SLAM! Tohru stood up and smashed her head into the fire extinguisher. "Oh, I can't believe I did it again!" Tohru shouted, rubbing her head, "I bumped my head! That almost hurt worst than the first time! Look I'm crying because it hurt so bad!"

"I would worry," Uo mumbled, "But I don't think her brain damage can get any worse."

* * *

After school, Kouen and Tohru walked to work and did their job until eleven o'clock that night. They came home tired and hungry. "Another days work over and done," Kouen sighed, "But it's late. I wonder if anyone's still awake."

"I hope Kyo at least got some dinner tonight if he wasn't too angry to eat again," Tohru mumbled, "Maybe I could... Oh but I'm probably the last person he wants to see."

She sighed sadly. "No one's ever hated me before," she said, "I don't know what to do."

_Just be youself, you'll be fine._

"Yes," Tohru said determinedly, "You're right Mom. I just have to keep trying."

Kouen smiled. "Isn't twin telepathy great," she said.

Tohru smiled back, but her mind was still on Kyo. Suddenly they heard the bushes rustle behind them. They both froze, hearts thudding rapidly. "What was that?" Tohru whispered, "Is there someone else here?"

Kouen glanced around nervously. "Oh no," she whimpered, "What if it's one of those weirdos Shigure warned us about!"

A branch snapped right behind them. Kouen shrieked and swung her bag back at their attacker. It slammed into his head but he didn't move. Kouen opened her eyes and gasped. Kyo was staring at her with some kind of freaked out look. Tohru's eyes widened and Kouen pulled her bag back behind her. _He's gonna think we thought he was a stalker! _Tohru thought anxiously, _Oh, but I guess we did, oh but we can't tell him that!_

Meanwhile, Kouen looked like she was going to explode into a fit of laughter. Kyo turned around and started to walk away. "Wait," Tohru shouted before he could get too far, "We're sorry, it was an accident. Kouen was just stretching her arm and oops! Funny how things like that happen, huh? But hey, it's nice to see-!"

"Quit babbling," Kyo growled, "If you've got something to say, say it."

Tohru froze. "Kyo," she said quietly.

"What?"

"I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say anything!" Kyo shouted.

"Sorry!"

Kouen rolled her eyes and Kyo sighed. "No don't be," he said, "Say or don't say whatever you want. And you don't have to, you know, stay away. I... aww just hit me again if you're angry!"

"Okay!" Kouen said happily, raising her bag.

"Wait!" Tohru said, grabbing Kouen's bag. She looked curiously at Kyo. "Is he..." she whispered just loud enough for Tohru to hear, "He's trying to apologize for this morning isn't he? Maybe that's why he came out here to meet us. So... does that mean, the other day after school, I think he was trying to apologize to us then too."

"I'm sorry," Tohru said louder for Kyo to hear, "I'm sorry if we gave you the wrong idea. Kouen only hit you because we thought you were a stalker!"

"Oh great," Kyo muttered.

"So you see it wasn't because we were mad at you-"

"Yes it was," Kouen mumbled.

"-That's not it at all! In fact, I really like you."

Kyo and Kouen stared at Tohru. Suddenly something clicked in Kouen's mind. "I think I'll go up ahead," she said sneekily, "I, uh, have to go to the bathroom."

She speed walked away. "Wait," she said. She walked back and took her bag from Tohru. "Protection." she said, waving it menacingly.

Then she walked away, leaving Tohru and Kyo alone. Tohru looked back at Koy. "I've always like the cat from the Zodiac," she said, "What I mean is, I hope, maybe we can be friends?"

Kyo stared at her curiously for a moment. Then he sighed. "What are you supposed to be, some year of the cat fan club?" he asked, "Come on, let's go back."

They walked back to the house quietly, but Tohru was smiling the whole way. Her and Kyo were friends again! Well, sorta. Not really, but oh well! At least he didn't hate her anymore. When they got back, Kouen was already eating, chowing down on the delicious meal Tohru had made. Tohru ate too and then they went too bed. Shigure had gotten them a huge bed to share, which was perfect for them because they were used to sharing a bed by now. When they finished changing into their pj's Kouen grinned ay Tohru. "What?" Tohru asked.

"You know what," her sister said, "How was the walk home with Cat Boy?"

Tohru smiled. "It was nice," she said, "Which reminds me, why did you go running off all of a sudden?"

"Becuase I wanted to give you time alone with Carrot Top," Kouen said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "So how did it go? Come on, I need details!"

Tohru blushed. "Well I do appreciate that," she admitted, "And there really isn't much to talk about. We just walked home."

"A moonlit walk," Kouen sighed, "How romantic!"

Tohru laughed. "Come on, I know you like him," Kouen said seriously, "Even more than Yuki, which I don't really understand."

Tohru shrugged then looked up. "Wait," she said slyly, "Do you like Yuki?"

Kouen blushed and looked down. "Maybe," she mumbled. Then she smiled. "Okay, yes!" she said excitedly, "His eyes are so pretty and the way he talks is so cute. And I love-"

Suddenly she froze in horror. "Oh my God," she said, "I'm turning into a fangirl!"

Tohru laughed. "Well I promise, the next time you, me, and him are together, I'll give you some time alone," she said.

Kouen smiled. "Thanks," she said, "Now I think we should get some sleep."

"Yeah, we want to be nice and ready for school and work tomorrow," Tohru said brightly.

Kouen groaned and turned off the light. "Night." she said.

"Night."

* * *

The next day, they all got up early and had breakfast before school. "So, Kyo, I hear you gave the girls a little scare while you were out prowling around last night," Shigure teased, "Kyo's a stalker! Kyo's a stalker!"

"You are so full of it!" Kyo hissed. He turned to Tohru and Kouen. "And you, next time you need someone to walk you home, don't look at me."

"That's okay," Tohru said brightly, "Anyway, I'd much rather see you here at the table like this more often. I'm glad you're eating, how do you like the food?"

Kyo looked up and thought for a moment. Then he glanced at Yuki. "What do you want?" he shouted.

"Nothing."

"You were staring at me!"

"No, just looking."

"Well, I guess there's a first time for everything!"

"So do you like it?" Tohru asked quietly.

"No I don't-!" Kyo froze and everyone starred at him awkwardly.

* * *

When they got to school, there was some time before school started so Kouen hung out with Tohru and everyone in their homeroom class. "Hey, how about we play Rich Man Poor Man?" Tohru suggested.

"Aww, play it with that damn Yuki," Kyo muttered, "I don't wanna."

"Running away from a challenge," Uo snorted, "What are you? Some kinda sissy?"

"Fine, I'll play you're stupid game!" Kyo shouted, "Just don't cry when you lose, Yankee."

"How about this," Uo said, "The loser cleans the entire classroom by himself."

They glared at each other menacingly. "Ah," Hana moaned, "Aren't those the most wonderful signals?"

"Let's ask Yuki if he wants to play," Kouen said. She glanced around. "Yuki!" she called, "Hmm, I wonder where he is. Oh well, his loss."

She sat down and started playing with her friends. And Kyo.

* * *

Meanwhile, Yuki stood awkwardly in the hallway talking to one of his classmates. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, "I'm just not ready to be in a relationship right now. So I think it would be best if we just-."

"No don't say it!" the girl cried, "Yuki!"

She ran forward to hug him. Acting reflexively, he grabbed the girl's head to stop her. "Uh," he stammered, "I'm sorry."

"It's just," the girl whispered, "you were always so nice. You really don't want to get close to anyone, do you Yuki? You shut everyone out like you think you're better than they are! So what, I guess a normal girl like me isn;t good enough for you, is that it?"

She stormed off angrily, leaving Yuki standing there alone.

* * *

"Revolution!" Kyo shouted, throwing his cards down on the table victoriously.

"You cheater!" Uo snapped, "What kind of cheap ass tricks are you trying to pull?"

"What do you mean tricks, those are the rules!"

"Let's see, revolution makes all high cards low right?" Tohru asked.

"Wait," Hana said, "Reverse revolution."

Everyone stared at her cards in amazement. Then they all started teasing Kyo. "Aww, stick it," Kyo hissed, "Come on let's play again!"

Kouen laughed and looked around. She was surprised to find Yuki standing in the doorway with an odd look on his face. She was about to stand up and go talk to him when Tohru asked her to deal out the cards. "Sure," she replied distractedly. Yuki walked away, looking like a lost puppy.

Kouen sighed and went back to the game.

* * *

After class, Tohru, Kouen and Yuki stood watching Kyo clean the room after losing the game. "Rich Man Poor Man," Yuki said, "I know the rules but I can't say I've ever actually played the game."

"Uo just taught us how to play not too long ago," Kouen said, "It really is a lot of fun. You should play with us sometime."

Yuki smiled at them, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "So it looks like Kyo was the loser today, was he?" Yuki smirked.

"Yes, but I'll still help him clean up," Tohru said brightly.

"No a loss is a loss," Kyo muttered.

"Are you sure?" Tohru asked.

"Don't worry about it, I'll win next time," he said, then turning to Yuki he shouted, "Just like I'm gonna win against you!"

"Wait, wait I think I've heard this one before," Yuki said sarcastically.

Kouen laughed but Kyo glared at Yuki. "No joke asshole," he said, "I am going to beat you! That's a promise!"

"I wish you'd stop making your infeririority complex my problem," Yuki mumbled.

"I swear every time you open your mouth it pisses me off!"

"And every time you open yours you sound like an idiot."

Kouen groaned as the boys continued to argue. "They're fighting again," she sighed, "They can't even be in the same room together can they."

"I guess cats and rats aren't supposed to get along really," Tohru admitted, "But the way they fight, there's got to be a better explanation."

_And then I'm gonna take my place as a true member of this family!_

The twins gasped as the same thought entered both of their heads. "Do you think," Kouen said slowly, "maybe what he meant by that was, he's trying to beat Yuki, becuase then he thinks he'll be accepted into the Zodiac!"

"If that's true," Tohru said, "than that means the cat will be included with the other twelve animals. That would be wonderful!"

"I'm gonna break your pretty boy face!" Kyo shouted.

"But I don't think fighting is the best way to go about it," Kouen mumbled.

"Um, you guys..." Tohru said quietly.

"That's it!" Kyo shouted, throwing his mop aside, "Let's go!"

He swung a punch which Yuki dodged easily. Then Yuki slammed his foot into Kyo's chin, sending him flying. Yuki glared at the heap of Kyo on the ground. "Ugh, I can't even stand to look at you," he snapped and walked out of the room.

They were all silent for a moment. Suddenly Kouen giggle a little. "I just never get tired of seeing Cat Boy get decked," she smiled.

"Dammit," Kyo moaned, "Why can't I ever kick him in the head for a change? But he really did try to lay me out today. He must be in a bad mood or something."

Kouen looked out the door, thinking about what Kyo said. Yuki did seem rather irritated today. Maybe he was in a bad mood.

* * *

That night, after work, the two girls were talking in the room that had the employee lockers. "I don't know," Kouen murmured, "I guess it's because Yuki's so... polite you would never think he'd had a bad day."

"But if what Kyo said was true," Tohru said, "he might just be keeping his real feelings locked up inside."

Suddenly they heard some of the ladies that worked with them talking to each other. "Hey," one of them whispered, "Go check it out! There's a real looker standing out front. I don't remember the last time I saw such a pretty face like that on a boy!"

"Oh listen to you! You just don't know when to quit do you?"

Tohru and Kouen glanced at each other and sprinted to the door. Sure enough, there was Yuki, leaning against the wall, waiting for them. "Yuki," Kouen said in suprise.

"Hi there," he said with a smile, "So are you all finished?"

"Yes, but don't tell me you came all the way down here just to pick us up," Tohru said sheepishly.

"Sure I did. It's not to safe you you two to be walking alone at night."

"An escort two nights in a row," Kouen smiled, "I have to say, you and Kyo sure know how to make a girl feel special!"

Yuki looked down at the ground and and a strange look overcame him. It was that same smile that looked like it didn't belong on his face. "Well we should go," he said quietly.

Suddenly Tohru stopped. "Um, actually I forgot something," she said with a wink at Kouen, "You two go ahead, I'll catch up."

She ran back into the building without another word. Yuki watched her strangely then shrugged. "Come on," he said, smiling at Kouen, "We should get going."

He turned and started walking down the sidewalk. "Wait, Yuki," Kouen said.

He turned and looked at her. She walked over and stood facing him. "Um," she said awkwardly, "I hope I'm not prying, but if there's something that's bothering you, you know you can talk to me about if you want."

His eyes widened and he stared at her in surprise. "I'm sorry, it's just that," Kouen continued, "anytime I ever had anything on my mind that was bothering me, it always made me feel better to talk about with someone-,"

"Hey lovebirds!" some drunk guy said shoving Kouen into Yuki, "Go home! It's too late for kids to be out on the street!"

The man walked off just as there was a poof of pink smoke and Yuki changed into a rat. "But then again," Kouen muttered, "you don't have to. I wouldn't want to talk to me either if I kept turning me into a rat."

"No," Yuki mumbled, "It's not your fault. I'm the one with the curse."

Kouen picked up Yuki's clothes and the odd couple walked down the street together. As they walked, Yuki started talking. "For years living at Sohma house felt like living in a cage," the little rat said, "Akito always liked to keep me as far away from, well, everyone as he could. But what I wanted was to live a normal life, with normal people. I wanted to move in with Shigure, enroll in this school. I wondered why he let me go at first. I soon found out. I could leave the house, but leaving the cage... that wasn't so easy. No, I'm still a Sohma, and no matter how much I might want to, that's something I can never change. I'll always be different. I know that, but what scares me is if I get too close to someone, they might realize that too. Not like Kyo, he's shy when he first meets people, but after he get's to know them a little, he can open up to them, be himself. Because of _what_ he is, Kyo can never be accepted into the Zodiac. But isn't it better that he can be accepted by normal people for _who_ he is? That is exactly what I've always wanted. I guess that's why I get so angry with him, because he can't even see what he has. He's blinded by that foolish desire to join the very same family I've spent my whole life trying to run away from."

Kouen sighed and looked down at the little rat. "I don't know why being different is so bad," she said, "I like being different. And so what if someone close to you realizes that you are different. If they can't accept you, they aren't the right person. Besides, Yuki, people do accept you. A lot more than you know, I mean, just think of all the girls at school who like you, they always talk about how nice you are."

"But that isn't me," Yuki muttered, "You say they accept me because I'm nice, but I only act nice because I want them to accept me. Not because it's how I really feel. I'm not a good person, I'm just... selfish."

Suddenly the sky thundered and rain began pouring down. Kouen looked up in surprise and smiled, holding her arms out wide. "I love the rain," she sighed, staring straight up and closing her eyes, letting the droplets fall on her face, "The weather didn't say a thing about it. What's a day without surprises I guess."

POOF! Kouen spun around as Yuki turned back into a person. "This is bad," he said.

They ran back to the hosue in a hurry. Yuki seemed to be worrying about something. "Yuki," Kouen called through the storm, "What is it? Where are we going?"

They came to a small opening in the woods near the house and Kouen was surprised to find a small field with plants growing in it. "A field?" she wondered.

"No," Yuki said, "Just a little vegetable garden I take care of."

"Then did you do all this?"

"Uh huh, this is my secret base," he murmured sheepishly.

"Wow! It's even better than I pictured!" Kouen exclaimed, "So you came here to try and protect it from the storm right? I'll help if I can! Just show me what to do!"

Yuki pulled out a tarp and held it over the garden. "You are a good person," Yuki said gratefully, "Kouen."

Kouen took one side of the tarp and looked up. "Wow, no more 'Miss Honda?'" she said with mock shock, "One small step for man, one giant leap for Yuki!"

Yuki laughed, and not the fake laugh he did when some random person cracked a joke in class, but a real, genuine laugh. "But seriously," Kouen said, "I'm not the good person. That's Tohru. I'm just the family idiot."

She blushed as the tarp flew away and smacked her in the face. "It's your own special kind of kindness," Yuki said, "You make people laugh even when they are sad or worried."

Kouen smiled. "Tohru and mom used to always talk about the different shapes kindness could take," she said, "I guess I sort of picked up some of it. I think yours looks sorta like a candle."

Yuki looked up in surprise. "Whenever you're around, you always seem to bring a little bit more light into the world, everything's brighter and it just makes me want to smile! Oh but now you're looking at me like I'm crazy. I guess that's the family idiot again."

Yuki blushed and looked back down. "No," he said, "I'm sorry it's just, uh, I guess I'm not used to talking like this."

"Well, I'm glad that we are," Kouen said happily, "When you're comfortable enough with someone that you can share your feelings, I'd say thats usually a pretty good sign that you're getting to be closer friend."

They were quiet for a while as they fought to keep the tarp down. Finally the storm ended and they rolled the tarp back up. "Yay! We saved the base!" Kouen said happily.

"Yes but we are a little worse for wear aren't we," Yuki said, refering to their rain-soaked clothes.

Kouen hugged her wet uniform to her and twisted back and forth. "I love rain," she said for the second time, "and I love standing outside in it. I don't really mind getting wet."

She looked down at the little garden. "Maybe we should pick something while we're here, you think," she suggested.

"Um, I guess the leeks are ready."

Kouen made a face. "Yummy," she said sarcastically.

"Kouen," he said hesitantly, "I've been thinking... next time you play that game, could I play too?"

"Of course," Kouen replied, "You just didn't seem too interested before."

"Oh," he mumbled, "Well, when I saw everyone together like that I guess I let my shyness get the best of me."

"Aww, wittle Yuki's shy?" Kouen whispered.

Yuki blushed and Kouen laughed. "I'm just teasing," she mumbled.

"Anyway," he continued, "I'd like to join you. I'll keep trying, maybe I can learn to open up more."

"Sure, I'm here to talk to if you need it," Kouen said confidently, "And Uo's always looking for another victim to beat at Rich Man Poor Man."

Yuki gave that wonderful smile again. "Thanks for the warning," he said.

Kouen blushed under his gaze.

* * *

When they got back, Tohru was already home. She cooked the leeks Yuki and Kouen picked while those two changed clothes. When they were all ready, they sat down for dinner. Kyo gagged when he saw the leeks. "Eat up everyone!" Tohru said happily.

"Are you crazy!" Kyo shouted, "I hate leeks!"

"And onions and miso and... am I leaving anything out?" Shigure asked.

"Hey miso's okay as long as it's soup!" Kyo amended.

"Oh I'm sorry," Tohru said, "I guess I didn't know. I can make something else for you if you want. Just tell me what you like."

Suddenly Yuki stood up with a bunch of leeks in his chopsticks and shoved them in Kyo's mouth, plugging the cat boy's nose. "Just eat." he said dangerously.

_It really is a shame these two can't get along better, _Kouen thought, _I have to think about what it would be like if Kyo knew Yuki admired him a little bit. Who knows, I'll bet there's even something about Yuki that Kyo admires. _

"Um Yuki, Kyo's already passed out," Shigure said.

_If they could just understand that, maybe there's a chance they could stop fighting. _

Kouen smiled at her sister and dug into her leeks. There was no way she could refuse them now.

* * *

**Me: Well thats all for now! :)**

**Kyo: Took you long enough.**

**Me: Okay I've had enough of you! *jumps on Kyo and tackles him to the ground* Do you know how hard it is to write to these peoples standards! I'm under a lot of stress right now!**

**Kyo: Okay okay! I'm sorry! Hey my arm doesn't bend like that!**

**Me: Please review! If you don't I'll have to break Kyo's arm!**

**Kyo: Hey wait a minute!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Me: Last chapter I had Kyo help me with the disclaimer. Sorta. He wasn't much help actually.**

**Yuki: There's a shock.**

**Me: Anyway now I have Yuki! Which is extra special becuase guess what Zodiac year I am!**

**Yuki: The rat?**

**Me: *mutters* cheater.**

**Yuki: Well, since I'm a better person than Kyo I'll actually help with the disclaimer. She does not own any of Fruits Basket stuff.**

**Me: Which makes me sad. But the show must go on! I have a feeling all of you pig lovers are gonna like this chappy!**

**Yuki: Wait... is this the one with-?**

**Me: Shh! You'll ruin the surprise! And by the way, if it wasn't for siriuslover101 and iloveredshoes Kyo would have had his arm snapped in half! You guys need to review! Okay I'm gonna shut up and you guys read!**

Everyone sat around the table one calm morning having breakfast. Tohru poured some tea in her cup as a loud rumbling noise came from outside. They all looked up. "What the hell is that?" Kouen asked with a yawn.

"Sounds like she's here early," Shigure said.

Kyo yelped and jumped up. "Oh I didn't know you were expecting anyone," Tohru said.

Suddenly Kyo sprinted out of the room. Or at least tried to. Shigure grabbed the back of Cat Boy's shirt and held him still while the noise died down outside. "Ah ah, not so fast Kyo," Shigure said happily.

Tohru stood up and went to the door. Kouen stood up to go after her. "Wait," she said, "This looks dangerous. Do we need weapons?"

"Yes!" Kyo shouted.

Kouen raised a questioning eyebrow at Yuki. "That would probably be the smart way to approach this situation," he admitted.

Kouen grabbed the big spoon off the table. "I'll be back," she said menacingly.

The twins walked out to the door. It was open but there was nothing there. "Hello?" Tohru called.

No one responded. They walked out a little farther. "Strange, there's no one here," Kouen whispered.

"But I distinctly remember closing that door," Tohru said, "so somebody must have- Gyaa!"

A little girl slid into view suspiciously. "Are you Kouen and Tohru Honda?" the girl asked.

"Y-yes," Kouen asked, holding up her spoon.

"Oh, um, well that's... I mean...."

"Yes?" the girls asked.

"I'm Kagura," the girl said, looking up at them with an angelic face, "That's my name Kagura Sohma."

"Kagura Sohma," Tohru repeated politely, "Hi!"

"Aww what a cute little girl," Kouen cooed.

"Please I... I heard that Kyo was here," Kagura said quietly, "Please tell me it's true. Is he?"

"Oh yes," Tohru said, "Kyo's here. Would you like to come in and see him?"

Kagura gasped. "Kyo?" she whispered excitedly as she looked past the girls to the orange-haired boy trying to free himself from Shigure's grip, "Kyo!"

"Kagura!" Kyo shouted, but not exactly the same enthusiasm.

"I don't believe it!" Kagura said, "It's really you! Kyo! Kyo!"

"Maybe she is one of the Zodiac," Kouen whispered to Tohru.

"Kyo!" Kagura said, running over to Kyo who cowered in fear, "Why did you run away for so long? You didn't call me or send a card. Where were you? Oh darling... I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!!"

Kagura seemed to sort of explode as she punched Kyo in the face, sending him flying through the door. Kyo landed in a heap, only to be picked back up by his ankle and swung around in the air. "YOU HAD ME WORRIED SICK!!!" Kagura shouted.

"Well, it appears we'll be needing another door, doesn't it?" Yuki muttered.

"Sometime it feels like the whole world is conspiring to destroy my house," Shigure said dramatically.

"I'm sorry," Tohru said weakly.

"Hmm?" Shigure said looking up, "Oh I was just kidding. This is normal, it's Kagura's way of showing affection."

"I would have never guessed," Tohru mumbled, "So then, from the looks of it, she must really like Kyo a lot."

Meanwhile Kouen was rolling around on the ground, laughing hysterically. "Oh man," she said between gasps, "This chick is amazing! She can stay here as long as she wants!"

"Kagura does tend to get a little carried away with her emotions," Yuki said calmly, "That's especially true when she's around Kyo. You might not believe it, but she's two years older than us."

"Than you," corrected Shigure, "She's also part of the Zodiac."

"I knew it!" Kouen said, beginning to recover from her laughing, "That's great! Which animal is she?"

"I figured that would have been obvious at this point," Shigure said.

The girls looked out at the wresting match in the yard. "I'm sorry I guess we've been a little distracted," Tohru said.

"Oh wait!" Kouen said, "Is she the-?"

"Now let's not spoil the fun for Tohru," Shigure said, putting a hand up to silence Kouen.

But Tohru was too busy watching Kagura beat the snot out of Kyo. Kyo slammed once again into the ground after being dealt a hard blow in the jaw. Kagura paused and gasped when she saw Kyo. "Kyo!" she shouted, "Darling what happened? You're hurt! Oh no, no, no! Speak to me, who did this to you?"

"Um you I think," Shigure said.

After they dragged Kyo back into the house and tried to fix what was left of the demolished door, they all sat back down for more tea. A cold wind blew through the holes in the door. Kouen sneezed. "It's cold in here," Yuki said.

"Yes I noticed that too," Shigure said.

"I-I'm sorry," Kagura said sweetly, "But when I saw Kyo I got so happy! All my love just came out at once. I couldn't help it."

Kouen gave a loud cough that sounded an awful lot like "Bi-polar" "Kouen!" Tohru scolded.

Luckily Kagura didn't seem to notice. "But it is really your fault too Kyo," she said, "If you'd just remember to call me, you wouldn't have made me miss you so hard."

"Who said I forgot?" Kyo muttered, holding an ice pack to his cheek, "Maybe I didn't want to call you!"

"Oh silly yes you did," Kagura said, "We are getting married after all."

"Since when!?"

"You mean you don't remember?" Kagura smiled, "When we were kids, you asked me to marry you!"

"Only because you were gonna kill me if I didn't!"

"Oh so the two of you are engaged! That's wonderful!" Tohru shouted happily as Kouen returned to her position of laughing/suffocating on the ground.

"At least now he'll have someone else to fight, instead of me," Yuki said.

"Congratulations," Shigure said distractedly.

"You guys!" Kyo shouted desperately.

"We really do make the best couple since we're both members of the Zodiac," Kagura said, "Well, Kyo's not officially a member but he's still cursed so it's almost the same. We can still understand each other in a way that no one else can, and that's good. But the best thing is that we can hug each other all we want and we don't transform."

She wrappe dher arms around Kyo and gave him a huge bear hug. Kyo thrashed and tried to escape but he was no match for the little girl. "I don't believe it!" Tohru said, "Kyo didn't turn into a cat!"

Kagur let go of Kyo and rushed over to Yuki, hugging hin instead. "See," she said, "It's okay for Zodiac members to hug."

"Why is that?" Kouen asked, wiping laughing tears from her eyes.

"It's a mystery to us too," Yuki mumbled through Kagura's hair.

Kagura quickly let go of him and went back over to Kyo. "Though we've seen it enough to know it isn't just a fluke with Kagura," Shigure said, "She's one of a kind, granted, but she isn't the only girl in the Zodiac."

"Really, there are more girls in the Zodiac," Tohru said excitedly, "Do you think we'll get to meet them someday?"

"I don't know Tohru," Kouen said with a sigh, "If they are all like Kagura, I think one might be enough."

"Kyo!" Kagura shouted out of nowhere, "You have to tell me! Be honest! Do you love me? Do you hate me? Because I love you, I do, more than anything else in the whole wide world! I'll prove it! I'll cook for you every day! I'll do anything, even if you cheat on me, I can forgive a one time fling! No one else loves you this much do they? No, just me! We should always be together, don't you think? I JUST TOLD YOU WHAT YOU THINK NOW SAY SOMETHING DAMMIT!!!"

"Ehhhh," Kyo moaned, as Kagura grabbed the front of his shirt and started strangeling him with it.

"Ah this pains my heart," Shigure sighed, "But moving on. Tohru, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you something of a cat lover yourselves? And you Kouen."

"Tohru more than me," Kouen said, "But yeah, that's her, the year of the cat fanclub."

"Rivals!" Kagura shouted, dropping Kyo.

She ran over to the twins. "But I'm not going to lose!" she said determinedly, "What do you two like best about Kyo? Because I like everything! Everything!"

"Hey," Kyo muttered.

"The good things, the bad things! I like them all! I love Kyo, no matter what! Even if he changes into his other for-!"

Kyo clamped his hand over her mouth. "Shut your mouth right now," he muttered, "One more word and I'll...."

"AND YOU'LL WHAT LOVE?!?!" Kagura shouted, grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back.

Kyo yelped in pain and tried yet again to escape the never ending love. "You should really call mercy Kyo," Yuki said calmly.

"Oh I almost forgot about the laundry," Tohru said.

Kouen groaned and laid back down on the ground. "Laundry?" Kagura said, letting go of Kyo.

Tohru led the way into the laundry room, Kagura following closely behind and Kouen picking up the rear. Tohru opened the the drier and pulled the clothes out into a basket. "That's not Kyo's shirt is it?" Kagura asked menacingly.

Tohru froze and glanced over at Kagura. The girl immediately changed her attitude. "So is that Kyo's shirt?" she asked innocently.

"No not yet," Tohru said, handing the basket to Kouen to fold, "These are Yuki's clothes. I haven't even started on Kyo's, but they're next on the list."

"Don't worry," Kagura said happily, "I'll do it! If that's okay with you! It is isn't right?"

"Yup!" Kouen said happily, "You do whatever chores you want to!"

"I don't know," Tohru hesitated.

"I said I'll do it," Kagura begged, "I really want to! So please, please can I?"

"Don't crush the poor girl's dreams Tohru!" Kouen said, trying to figure out how to fold one of Yuki's school shirts, "Let the girl do Kyo's laundry! There are much worse fates than work deprivation!"

"Have I ever mentioned how persuasive you are?"

"You could stand to mention it more."

Tohru smiled. "Okay," she said to Kagura, "If you insist."

"Yay! Thank you so much!" Kagura ran out of the laundry room.

"Don't mention it," Kouen said happily.

Kagura tackled Kyo to the ground and tried to rip his shirt from his body. "Kyo, okay take everything off!" she shouted.

"Stop it!" Kyo shouted, "What are you doing?!"

"Your laundry! I have to take of your clothes! Or do I have to wash you along with them?"

She finally got his shirt off and he shot out from under her. "Where are you going?" she asked innocently.

"Away from you," he shouted, diving into the bushes.

"Kyo!" Kagura shouted sadly.

"Don't worry," Shigure assured her, "I'm sure he'll wander back when he get's hungry."

Kagura sighed and walked back to the laudnry room with Kyo. "What's the matter?" Tohru asked when she saw the look on Kagura's face.

"Why is Kyo so mad at me?" Kagura whimpered, "I don't understand."

She started crying into Kyo's shirt. "You know he might not be angry," Tohru said, "Sometimes he just doesn't-."

Kagura gasped and held the shirt in the air. "That stink!" Kagura shouted, "How could you let him wear this? My poor sweet darling you'll have clean clothes from now on or I'm not the future Mrs. Kyo Sohma!"

"Okay," Kouen said, tossing the shirt she had been struggling with for the past ten minutes back into the basket, "I guess if you don't need anything I'll just go hang up Yuki's shirts now."

She grabbed the basket and headed out the door. "But you haven't even folded those yet," Tohru pointed out.

"Duh, that's what hangers are for," Kouen said with wink.

"Let's see, how much detergent," Kagura said, distractedly pouring in some of the powdery soap, "Maybe a little bit more. One more scoop for love. Oh better yet the whole thing!"

When Kouen and Tohru finished putting Yuki's clothes away, Tohru decided to clean the house a bit while Kouen went grocery shopping. "Oh there you are," Yuki said when they bumped into each other, "Are you still going out to shop for dinner?"

"Yep," Kouen said, "You wanna come? It's probably safer there than here."

Yuki smiled and nodded. He seemed to be showing that sincere smile more and more. As they left, Kagura dumped the rest of Kyo's clothes in the washing machine. "Oh yeah," she said as an idea popped into her head.

She ran out into the kitchen and put some hot water on the stove for tea. "Perfect," she said happily, "Now when Kyo comes home we can have a nice, fresh cup of tea. Yay!"

* * *

Meanwhile, as Kouen and Yuki walked to the store, Yuki said, "I'm guessing you've noticed by now, it would be sort of hard not to, but Kagura has a bit of a one track mind when it comes to Kyo. she's had her heart set on marrying him since we were little kids, for whatever that's worth. It's pretty silly I know."

"I don't know," Kouen shrugged, "I think it's kinda cute."

"You do?" Yuki asked in astonishment.

"Yeah. I mean, that kind of devotion is pretty rare, you know. To like someone so much for that long. It's pretty cool."

Yuki stared at her for a moment then looked down at the street. "I hadn't thought of it that way," he said thoughtfully.

"In fact, I think she'd be a great person to have as a friend. Mainly becuase if Kyo was mean to me she would just kick his ass."

"You should try. Being her friend I mean, I think you'd be good at it."

"You're just saying that because you wanna see Kyo get beat up too."

They both laughed and grinned at each other.

* * *

"Kyo-ku I love you! Waahaa! No more smell! I'm a perfect wife!" Kagura shouted, holding up Kyo's blue sweatshirt.

Kyo peeked out form behind the bushes. "Finally," he hissed, "Now I just gotta get my shirt back and I get the hell out of here!"

He slipped into the house and tip toed to the laundry room. "Maybe I should wring it out a little to make it dry faster," Kagura thought, "DRY DAMN YOU!" She twisted the shirt so hard it ripped completely in half.

"Ah!" Kyo shouted, "Tell me you didn't do what I just think you did!"

"My love," Kagura said sweetly as she turned to look at him.

"My shirt!"

He grabbed it from her to examine the demolished pieces. "Ugh," he groaned, "And I really liked this one too."

"I'm sorry darling," Kagura apologized, "I promise I'll fix it right away." She picked up another one of the drenched shirts and held it out to him. "Here, you can wear this one until then."

"It's soaking wet!"

"But that's because I washed it for you."

"Is there anything of mine you didn't wash?"

"Your pants."

"What am I supposed to do now, go around half naked? You want me to catch pneumonia, is that it?" He looked up and saw the huge wall of suds enveloping them. "Ahhh!"

The two teenagers splashed around in teh suds, trying to find their way out. "Um, Kagura," Shigure said, watching the event before him, "How much detergent did you use?"

"All of it!"

He sighed and sniffed the air. "Is something burning?" he said.

"Oh no! The tea!"

Kagura burst out from the bubbles and ran to the kitchen. She tried to pick up the screaming kettle but she dropped it as it scalded her hands. It hit the corner of the counter which spontaneously burst into flames. Kagura screamed and Kyo ran in, swatting the flames with a peice of his shirt. "Coming through," Shigure said calmly.

The other two looked at him and saw he had a fire extinguisher. He sprayed them without giving them a chance to move. When he was done they were all covered in white foam, some from the chemicals in the extinguisher, some from the overflowing washing machine. "Haha," Shigure laughed, "Don't we look lovely!"

"I can't believe you're laughing," Kyo muttered.

"Oh right. Now I'm mad."

"I-I'm sorry," stammered Kagura, "I didn't do it on purpose."

"I know that Kagura," Shigure said acceptingly.

"You still did it!" Kyo shouted in her face.

"I'm sorry," she said again, "I really am. Please Kyo, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, so what! Sorry isn't gonna get us a new kitchen!"

Kagura was quiet for a moment then she grabbed Kyo's arms and legs and bent him backwards. "WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?!?!" she shouted.

"Ooh," Shigure cringed, "That hurts."

* * *

When Yuki and Kouen came back, and Tohru, who had been upstairs cleaning with the vacuum throughout the ordeal, saw what happened, they stared in shock at the destroyed kitchen. "Well, you see," Shigure sighed, "It's a long story."

"That's alright, I think I can guess what happened," Yuki mumbled.

"Oh let me try!" Kouen said, raising her hand enthusiastically, "Kagura tried to make tea and do laundry at the same time and you used a fire extinguisher to fix it!"

"How'd you guess?" Shigure asked.

"Let's just say, that kind of thing has happened before."

Everyone looked at Tohru. "Like you said Shigure," she said, answering their questioning faces, "it's a long story."

She turned to Kagura who was kneeling on the kitchen floor, trying to clean up the mess. "I'll help you clean up," she said helpfully.

"I can do it," Kagura replied stubbornly.

"But it's too much work for you all by yourself," Tohru said, "Kouen and I will help."

"No!" Kouen and Kagura shouted.

"Please, let me do it," Kagura said, "I want to! It's my fault the kitchen's like this!"

"At least she's being consitant," Shigure sighed, "She wouldn't let me help either."

"And besides," Kouen stammered, "I uh... am going to practice karate!"

Everyone stared at her. "Karate?" Tohru asked suspiciously.

"Yeah," Kouen said, looking around desperately for inspiration. Her eyes fell on Yuki. "Yuki promised to teach me!"

"I did?" Yuki asked.

She grabbed his arm and pulled him over to her. "Deny me and I'll tell all the fan club girls at school you suck your thumb when you sleep," she hissed just loud enough for him to hear.

"I do not!" he hissed back.

"They don't know that."

He paused for a second, then said, "Yeah, she really wanted to learn how to kick Kyo's ass, so I figured I could teach her."

Kouen smiled satisfactorily. Tohru shrugged and waved a dismisive hand. "It's okay," Kagura said, "I'll do it all."

"Well," Tohru sighed, "If you insist."

"Come on," Kouen said, dragging Yuki away, "Before she realizes we were lying."

"I wasn't lying," Yuki said.

Kouen froze. "You mean," she said slowly, "You're really gonna teach me?"

He nodded. Kouen sighed, resigned to the hard work ahead of her. "What do I have to do?"

"Come on," he said leading her outside, "We'll start off easy."

They spent the next hour learning how to stand and breath. By the time they were done, Kouen and Yuki hadn't stopped laughing. "You are the worst person I've ever taught!"

"I'm the only person you've ever taught!"

"Shut up and breath."

"You're so bossy!"

"I'm the teacher!"

"Don't you mean 'sensei?'"

"Okay enough," Yuki said, holding his hands up, "I need a break."

"You? What about me? I'm the one actually working!"

"You've done nothing but stand there and take deep breaths."

"That's because you told me too! Stop laughing! Alright that's enough for one day!"

She plopped down on the grass and sighed, leaning back on her hands. Yuki sat down too but he sat cross legged. "Criss cross, applesauce!" Kouen sang.

"What is that?"

"It's what the teachers at school used to tell us to get us to sit like you are."

Yuki laughed quietly. Kouen smiled. "You should laugh more often," she said.

"I haven't stopped laughing since you black mailed me into coming out here."

"Hey, you're the one who made me actually do karate! But anyway, that is only around me. At school you always have a straight face, or you are smiling that stupid fake smile. You know, the one you give the fangirls."

Yuki nodded and looked down at the grass. "I don't know why," he said after a few moment, "but I feel so much more comfortable around you. Like you ease all the tension around me."

Kouen blushed and couldn't think of anyway to respond to that. Instead she just looked down and started pulling up some of the grass. "Well," she said finally, "Since we are apprently done here, let's go see what Tohru's gonna make us for dinner."

"Aren't you afraid she'll make you help clean up the kitchen?"

"It can't be any worse than your teaching. Ow! Hey, no hitting!"

"Don't be a baby," Yuki said standing up. He held a hand out to help her up. They both walked into the kitchen and looked around for Tohru and Shigure. Lucky for Kouen, they weren't cleaning the kitchen. Kagura still insisted on doing it by herself. Shigure and Tohru were talking about dinner too. "The real crisis here is that we won't be able to cook any dinner while the kitchen's wrecked. I guess we're just going to have to grit our teeth and call for takeout. And I was so looking forward to another of Tohru's delicious, homecooked meals."

"So," Yuki said, "Where'd the other homewrecker go?"

Shigure laughed and pointed at the roof. "He's still busy sulking I think. We'd probably do well to keep our distance for a while."

Shigure called a restaurant and ordered their food. They ate as soon as it got to the house and sighed contently when they were finished. "I'm gonna burst," Shigure said, "Full full full!"

"How about you two?" Yuki asked the girls.

"Mmm," Kouen mumbled, her mouth still full.

"I couldn't eat another bite," Tohru said.

She looked over at the two untouched plates next to them. "Oh but what about Kagura and Kyo?" she said, "We shouldn't let their dinners get cold."

"So let's see," Shigure said thoughtfully, "Am I brave enough to go look for Kyo just yet? Hm, no. But I think I can chance the kitchen."

He stood up and walked into the kitchen. A few minutes later he was chased back out by Kagura who was shouting, "YOU PERV!"

* * *

After dinner, everyone went to bed except for Kyo and Kagura. Kouen and Tohru curled up in the bed they shared and tried to get some sleep. But Tohru continued to toss and turn, trying to get comfortable. "What's wrong?" Kouen moaned sleepily.

"I'm worried about Kyo and Kagura," her sister replied, "I wanna make sure they got enough to eat."

Tohru stepped onto the cool wood floor and walked out of the room, closely followed by Kouen. They walked into the kitchen and were surprised at how spotless it was. "Everything's so clean," Tohru whispered.

Her eyes fell on the plates of food by the microwave. "Kagura and Kyo still haven't eaten their dinners," she said, "They must be starving."

They walked down the silent hall and saw Kagura kneeling on the ground, trying to fix the door she smashed earlier. "This'll take all night I know it," Kagura said quietly as she taped some of the thin wood.

Suddenly the small girl's stomach growled. "I'm so hungry," Kagura said.

Tohru grabbed Kouen's wrist and they slipped surepticiously back into the kitchen. Tohru quickly made a few rice balls and brought them out to Kagura. "Hi there," Tohru said, kneeling down next to Kagura.

Kagura looked up, surprised to find the twins watching her sleepily. "I made you a snack," Tohru said, "I noticed you hadn't eaten your dinner yet and I thought you might be hungry. So I made you some rice balls with the leftovers. I hope it's okay that I served them cold, I can heat them up if you want."

"No," Kagura said quietly, "I like them this way."

Kouen sat down too and smiled at Kagura. Kagura smiled back at both of them. She took one of the rice balls and ate it hungrily. "Okay then," Tohru said happily, "Now why don't we see if we can't finish fixing this door. I thought it might make the job more fun if we work together."

Kouen sighed. "There you go again, signing me up for work. But I guess I'll help. Mainly becuase I'm too tired to think of an excuse."

"I would like to work together," Kagura said.

"Good," Tohru replied, ignoring Kouen's wise crack.

"Before we start..." Kagura mumbled.

"Yes?"

"Can I please have one more rice ball?"

"Sure!"

Since they were working together, the job of fixing the door didn't take that long. They rolled the paper across the wood and made sure it would stay. then Kagura grabbed some scissors and started cutting shapes from the paper. "Looky looky," she said, holding up a little cat head.

"It's a cat right?" Tohru said with a giggle, "It's so cute!"

Kagura stuck the little shape to the door. "Uh huh!" she said happily.

Kouen cut out her own shape. "Look, I made one too," she said.

"A little rat!"

"You can tell?"

"Sure I can! It's adorable!"

"Why thank you very much! I'll put it up right here."

"I'm gonna do another one," Kagura said.

"Alright," Tohru agreed, "I will too."

"Tohru, what are you gonna make?"

"Um, how about a dog?"

"Okay," Kagura said, "And I'll make another cat!"

They spent the rest of the hour making cute little Zodiac animals.

"Tohru," Kagura said hesitantly, "Kouen?"

"Yes?" the twins replied in unison.

"Thank you. I hope we can be friends from now one."

The other girls smiled and nodded.

* * *

Later, when they were finished working, Tohru walked arond the house looking for Kyo. Kouen went back to their bedroom to wait for her sister. Tohru grabbed a ladder she found outside and propped it against the roof. She climbed up and peeked over the top of the roof. "Kyo?" she said to the orange haired boy on the roof.

He jumped and glared at her. "You're not really planning on staying up here the whole night are you?" Tohru asked.

"Better believe it," he hissed, "Kagura's still down there!"

"You don't want her to be here?"

"What do you think! You see what happens when she's around! It's always like that, she's crazy. And she won't ever shut up about that stupid marriage crap. I can't stand it!"

"I think it's sweet," Tohru interjected, "When you have someone who loves you as much as she does, you should really feel pretty lucky. You know? And I think ever girl dreams about getting married one day. Kagura just dreams a little louder than most."

Suddenly Tohru got an idea and she climbed back down the ladder. A few minutes later she climbed back up with a couple more rice balls for Kyo. "Here you go," she said, handing him the tray.

As he was eating, they began to talk. "Kyo you have a dream too don't you?" Tohru said, "To beat Yuki? Isn't that why you were up in the mountains for so long, training?"

"Hm?" Kyo said, "Yeah. Oh, I guess Shigure told you."

"That must have been really hard. Being out there all by yourself."

"No, I wasn't alone, I was with my master."

"Ooh, a master! He must be really strong then!"

"Are you kidding," Kyo said with a grin, "He could flatten that sissy Rat Boy with one punch! My master's as strong as they come! He's a Sohma but he never treated me like the others do! He's been teaching me to fight ever since I was a little kid. Sure, he put me through hell up there in the mountains, but those were some of the best days of my life! It's like every day was an adventure, you know! I'd wake up every morning and ask myself, 'What's he gonna teach me? How much stronger am I gonna get today?' It was great! Ah, listen to me, just talkig about get's me pumped up."

He looked down at the blank expression on Tohru's face. "Oh," he said sitting back down, "but this must seem pretty stupid to someone like you huh?"

"No, it's fascinating," Tohru said, "I guess I guess I really just don't know fighting is all. Not to say I'm not interested to learn, and I mean, I do know a little bit. I have a couple of moves I can show you. Um, let's see...."

She wound up and punched his shoulder weakly, shouting, "Right straight!"

Kyo looked at her. "You suck," he said with a smile.

Tohru looked at her tiny fist and smiled too. "I saw Rat Boy's teaching your sister," Kyo said, "I could teach you I guess. I mean, if you want."

"Well, fighting is more Kouen's thing anyway," Tohru said, "It's never really been my forte."

Kyo shrugged. "You don't seem the type." he said.

Tohru giggled. "Well, I guess I should get to bed," she said after a few minutes, "I think Kouen is waiting for me."

She waved goodbye and slid down the ladder. She walked back to her room and saw Kouen sitting up, reading a book and waiting for her. "Finally," Kouen sighed, "What took you so long?"

"I was talking to Kyo on the roof," Tohru said with a blush.

"Another romantic night!" Kouen smiled, "You get all the luck. All I got was a walk home and a siggy garden. Though I guess if I had too choose I would pick the rain."

She smiled, thinking about the secret base and Yuki smiling at her. "Well, it wasn't that romantic," Tohru said, sliding in next to her sister, "all we did was talk about fighting."

Kouen snorted. "You sure know how to pick 'em," she said sarastically.

She clicked off the lamp on the bedside table and said goodnight. Then they both drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The next day, Kagura had to go home. "Kyo darling!" she shouted, hugging Kyo, "Goodbye my love! Take care of yourself until I come back!"

"Tell you what, don't come back and I'll be fine!"

"Glad to see everything's back to normal," Tohru sighed.

"Incidently, did you ever figure out which Zodiac animal Kagura is?" Shigure asked.

"No not yet," Kouen reponded, still amusing herself with the lover's quarrel going on behind them.

"Kyo!" Kagura shouted suddenly, "Be nice or I'm not gonna kiss you goodbye!"

"Who needs it!"

She stormed out the door, smashing it to bits on the way out. "That's it Kyo! You jerk! I'm leaving you love!"

Unfortunately it was about noon and the paper boy was just making his rounds. As Kagura flew out the door, she rammed into the paper boy and transformed with a poof of gray smoke. "This is bad," Shigure sighed.

Yuki ran outside and shoved the paper boy back, covering his eyes just in case. "Thanks for your hard work," he said politely.

"Oh sure," the paper boy said nervously, "It's my job! Sorry I was a little late this morning. Byyyyyeeee!"

As he ran off the smoke cleared and a small brown boar was sitting on the grass in front of them. "Oh I got it!" Kouen shouted triumphantly, picking up the little pig, "She's the boar!"

"Um, that's cheating I think," Shigure said.

"Kagura," Tohru said, walking over to them, "I think I'm beginning to understand why it is you like Kyo so much. He really does have a lot of good qualities. And the more I learn about them, the more I wanna see him the way you do."

Kagura stared at Tohru for a moment she shrieked, "KYO YOU TWO TIMER!!!"

She nailed Kyo in the face with her hoof and began pummeling his guts out again. "I thought she was going to firgive his little flings," Shigure said.

"I WILL FORGIVE HIM RIGHT AFTER I KILL HIM!!!"

"What the hell did I do?!?!" Kyo shouted.

"Excuse me," Tohru said as Kouen rolled around on the ground, once again in hysterics, "Maybe I should start over. What I'm trying to say is, I hope I can be like you when it comes to finding all the good qualitites in the people I care about. They're not always easy to see."

"You want to... be like me?" Kagura said quietly.

"Uh huh," Tohru nodded, "It's wonderful how you find so many things to like about one person."

Suddenly with another poof, Kagura transformed back into her human self. "I don't know what to say!" she said happily.

"Put on some clothes!" Kyo shouted.

* * *

When she had her things back and her clothes on, Kagura waved goodbye and skipped down the road. "Oh and I'll bring you a new shirt next time I come visit Kyo! Love you!" she shouted over her shoulder.

"Goodbye!" Tohru shouted as she and Kouen waved, "See you again soon!"

"I'm gonna miss that girl," Kouen sighed.

Kyo groaned and turned around to face them. "Hey!" he shouted when he saw the way Tohru was smiling at him, "What's that look for?"

"Nothing," Tohru replied, "You're just so lucky."

"Don't you even start!" Kyo shouted, marching off to school, "Come on! We're gonna be late!"

Tohru giggle and started walking with him. Yuki sighed. "Oh well," he said, "There was such a commotion that I couldn't even get to do any gardening."

"Oh yeah," Kouen smiled, "Those leeks we picked were delicious. Are you planting something new?"

"Yes," he replied, "Strawberries."

"Really? I can't wait! I love strawberries!"

He nodded. "I thought you might," he said, "That's why I'm planting them."

Kourn blushed. "Thanks!" she said happily.

Suddenly a loud thundering noise erupted behing them. "KYO STOP RIGHT THERE!" Kagura shouted, running full tilt at Kyo, "I almost forgot to give you a goodbye kiss!"

She pounced on Kyo and threw him around, tryng to kiss him. Kouen laughed. _I think I've got some homework to do, _she thought. She wanted to learn more about Yuki and the other Sohma's, even a little more about Kyo. And she had a feeling Tohru would want to do the same.

* * *

**Me: All done! How did you like it?**

**Yuki: I thought it was rather good.**

**Me: Thank you very much! *bows* And you were much more help than Cat Boy.**

**Kyo: Hey I heard that!**

**Me: Get out of here! You're not invited to this author note!**

**Yuki: I'll take care of him. I'll just be a moment.**

**Kyo: *mocking voice* I'll just be a moment! Why don't you talk like a normal person for once!**

**Yuki: Alright. I'm gonna kick your ass. **

**Kyo: You wanna take this outside? Well let's go right now!**

**Me: Okay, while Yuki and Kyo duel it out you guys need to REVIEW!!! Seriously! If you review I'll... mention you in my next authors note! Now don't you wanna see that! Then REVIEW!! 'K bye!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Me: Greetings! I'm back for another chapter! And guess what! It's snowing!**

**Kouen: Yay!**

**Me: Uh huh! I know it's not snowing everywhere right now so as a present for those of you who do not get to stay home from school I'm devoting the whole day to this chapter!**

**Kouen: *reads from cue cards* You are such a nice person.**

**Me: Yes. Yes I am. ****Okay, I told you if you reviewed I would out your name in the author note. So thank you so much to Kyae, elenaequalsight, and SwirlzSmile for reviewing last chapter.**

**Kouen: What? Only three people? Thats depressing! You guys need to review or I'll... I'll... throw my mad kung fu skills on you!**

**Me: You don't have mad kung fu skills. You just know how to stand and breath. **

**Kouen: So....**

**Me: Anyway, why are you here Kouen?**

**Kouen: To tell everyone that we do now own Fruits Basket. It belongs to Natsuki Takaya and Funimation.**

**Me: That's right. So without further ado I bring you... chapter five!**

Tohru and Kouen walked around the library looking for a couple books. Tohru browsed the martial arts section while Kouen looked at the gardening part. "Ah," Tohru sai with a smile as she grabbed a book from the shelf, "Here it is. Fiery Spirit: The Inner Life of the Martial Artist. Sounds exciting."

She walked around the shelves and found Kouen kneeling on the ground looking through the gardening books. "Ready to go?" Tohru asked.

Kouen nodded, picking up the book she had chosen. "Twelve Steps to a Happy Home Garden." she said handing Tohru the book.

Tohru smiled in approval. "That's perfect," she said.

The girls wanted to learn as much as possible about Kyo and Yuki, so they could become even better friends. And leanring more about the things they like seems like a good way to start. Tohru skipped off to the cooking part of the library and grabbed on more book while Kouen skimmed through the martial arts book. "100 Family Recipes," Tohru said reading the title of the book she picked up, "I'll bet there are some great dinner ideas in here."

They went to the checkout and slid the books onto the counter. "I'd like to check these out please," Tohru said politely.

"Ah, Ms. Honda," their teacher said, addressing both of them. This seems to happen a lot. "I"ve been looking for the two of you. You have a phone call waiting for you in the staff office. Come with me please."

"Oh," the twins said in unison, "Okay."

They grabbed their books and walked quickly to the office. When they got there Kouen grabbed the phone first. "This is Kouen," she answered, "Grandpa! Hi, uh..."

She listened for a moment then froze. "S-sure," she said, "Here she is."

She handed the phone to Tohru who took the phone cautiously. "Granpa?" she said. After a moment she had the same reaction as Tohru. The renevations at Granpa's house were done.

* * *

When the girls got home, they sat quietly at the table with Shigure while Kyo practiced karate outside. "We just found out the renevatioons are done," Kouen said finally.

Shigure's eyes widened and he put the paper he had been reading down. Kyo looked at them curiously. "We got a phone call from our grandfather up at the school," Tohru said, "He told us."

"Ah," Shigure said, "I see. And if memory serves you were planning to move back into the house once the work was done, is that right?"

"What renovations?" Kyo asked.

"Oh, I guess we never told you Kyo," Shigure said.

"So what? Tell me now!"

"Keep your fur on Cat Boy," Kouen muttered.

"Well you see," Tohru said, ignoring Kouen, "after Mom died we went to stay with our grandfather on my father's side, but then we found out our aunt and her husband were gonna move into our house with us and Grandpa decided it would be a good idea to have some remodeling done, you know, to make more room for everyone, so he went away to stay with my aunt while the work was going on and we stayed here so we wouldn't miss school. Well, we didn't stay _here _here, not at first I mean, we were living in a tent for a while, but anyway, now that they finished with all the construction it looks like we can go back and-."

"Okay, enough already!" Kyo shouted, "I get it!"

Tohru glanced down at the ground in embarrassment. Kouen rolled her eyes at Kyo irritatedly. "Don't mind him," Shigure said, "I think we caught him a little off gaurd with the news is all. We've just witnessed a classic example of what I like to call 'misdirected rage' I belive the technical term is 'being an ass'"

"You are so full of it!" Kyo shouted.

"I guess I can understand," Shigure admitted, "It does seem sudden."

"I suppose we should go ahead and get our things packed while we still have the rest of the afternoon. I'll try to be out of your way by this evening."

"Please don't hurry on our account. You take as much time you need."

"Thanks but I'm sure they could use my help straightening up and everything, and as the saying goes 'never put off till tomorrow what you can do today,' right Kouen?" Tohru smiled.

"I thought the saying was 'If you can put it off until tomorrow, don't do it today,'" Kouen grumbled.

Tohru grabbed her sister's arm and dragged her up. "So we'll be upstairs if you need us," Tohru said, shoving Kouen to the door.

Kouen slid the door open and almost ran into Yuki. "Yuki," Kouen greeted, "Thank you so much for everything you've done for us."

"Uh, anytime," Yuki stammered, watching them with a sad look in his eyes.

Kouen stared at the ground and walked quickly past him, followed by her sister. "A thousand perfectly lovely things you could have said," Shigure sighed, "But what poetry spews from your mouth? 'Anytime.' Really, Yuki, I think that's the most unsentimental thing I've ever heard or at teh very least in sensitive. How do you expect to sustain any sort of, I don't know, meaningful relationship...."

But Yuki wasn't listening. He watched Kouen walk up the stairs and disappear from sight.

Later, while the girls were still packing, the three boys sat in at the table, staring into space. "Aren't you going to try?" Shigure asked suddenly, "Stop them I mean."

"Why would I?" Yuki muttered, "We've known from the start that she was only staying here until the remodeling was finished."

"Hm, well even so, it does seem stuffy in here doesn't it," Shigure sighed.

"Let 'em go," Kyo mumbled, "We should have never allowed an outside in this house to begin with."

Meanwhile the girls were stuffing their stuff into their bags in silence. Kouen finished first becuase unlike Tohru who folded all her clothes neatly, Kouen just stuffed her slothes into her backpack. As Tohru finished packing her stuff, Kouen sat on the ground looking around the room. "I don't wanna go!" she moaned after a while and fell onto her back.

Tohru smiled sadly at her sister. "We have to Kouen," she said, "They've done so much for us already."

"So? I'm starting to think they actually like us! Did you see Shigure's reaction when we said we were leaving? Well, come to think of it, that might now be a very good thing.... But Kyo seemed pretty upset too!"

Tohru looked at the door. "Yuki didn't seem upset at all," Kouen muttered.

"I thought he was," Tohru said, "Did you see how sad he looked?"

Kouen sighed. "I'm really gonna miss this place," she mumbled.

Tohru nodded in aggrement. "It's just like that game," she said suddenly, "Fruits Basket. You know, the one we played when we were kids."

"God, I hated that game," Kouen growled, "You're the only reason I played. I knew they would never pick either of us. Jerks."

"Anyway, this is just like then. No matter what, it seems like we can never fit in. We're too different from these people."

Kouen nodded sadly. "Well we better get going," she said picking up her things.

Tohru grabbed her's as well and they walked out of their old room. Kouen slid down the railing on the stairs and they said goodbye to Shigure and Yuki. Kyo was out hiding somewhere. "There's some fish left in the refrigerator," Tohru said to them, "Eat it soon so it doesn't go bad, okay? And you're almost out of soysauce so you need to pick some up at the store. Oh, and don't forget, they changed the say to pick up the garbage so be sure to put it out on time. What else?"

"Tohru, you're acting like their mom," Kouen giggled awkwardly.

Tohru reached into her pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. "Here," she said handing it to Shigure, "I wrote down our grandfather's address and everything so if there's anything you can't figure out you know where to find me."

"Thank you, Tohru," Shigure said, "You both really are too good to us."

"Not at all," Tohru said hastily, "We're the ones who should say that to you."

"And don't worry," Kouen interjected, "We won't tell anyone about your family curse. Cross our hearts and hope to die!"

"Speaking of which," Yuki muttered, "Where is that cat?"

"I think you know by now," Shigure said, "After all, sulking on the roof does seem to be one of the strange little ways Kyo shows he cares."

Tohru smiled. Kouen just stared at the ground. "Anyway," Shigure said awkwardly, "Good luck settling into your new home."

"Thanks," Tohru said brightly.

They walked down the path and off the property. On the way, Kouen stared desperately at Tohru. "Let's go back," she said, "Please! We'll never fit in with these normal people, let's go back to our weirdos!"

Tohru shook her head. "They were already so nice to us," she said, "We can't ask any more of them."

They walked the rest of the way to their grandfather's house and greeted their anunt and uncle. "It's nice to see you again," Tohru said happily while Kouen just looked around glumly.

"I didn't expect to see the two of you so soon," their aunt said, "You certainly don't waste any time."

_What kind of a welcome is that? _Kouen thought grumpily.

"Ah, Kouen, Tohru," their grandfather said as he walked in, "Welcome home!"

"Hi Grandpa!" Kouen said with a relieved sigh, "It's good to be back."

They both went upstairs to the room they were sharing with their cousin. Kouen pulled out the gardening book and tossed it on the bedd irritatedly. _These people are jerks, _she thought, _Why are we even here?_

They started unpacking their things when their cousin walked in. "Hey are you done putting your junk away or what?" she asked angrily.

Tohru jumped in surprise. Kouen glared up at the girl. "Junk?" she hissed, "You did not just call my stuff junk you b-!"

"I'm sorry," Tohru apologized, interrupting Kouen, "We're almost finished."

"I swear, what's the point of moving into a bigger house if I'm gonna get stuck sharing a room with someone?" the girl growled, "Just put that stuff somewhere I can't see it."

"I know a place where you won't be able to see it!" Kouen shouted as the girl left the room.

Tohru looked down at the carpet. This was their new home.

* * *

The next morning, bakc at the Sohma house, Shigure walked sleepily into the kitchen. "Tohru!" he called, "I'm starving, what's for breakfast?"

He blinked in surprise as he saw Kyo and Yuki trying to find something to eat. "I forgot," he said forlorly, "Our dear, sweet Tohru and that wonderful, spunky Kouen have gone, gone, gone away."

"That sounded like you forgot on purpose," Yuki muttered.

"No, of course not, that would be pretty dispicable, don't you think" Shigure said innocently, "But you know, without those girls here it does feel like all the fire's gone out of this kitchen, doesn't it. Suddenly it feels so cold and dreary."

"Dammit you are saying that on purpose, aren't you!" Kyo shouted.

He jumped at Shigure who held him back easily. "In any event," Shigure continued, "Consumed by grief though we are, I suppose we can't help but get hungry at some point. Which reminds me, Tohru left us a pot of her delicious beef stew in the refrigerator, yes?"

Yuki pulled the pot of beef stew from the fridge. "Perfect," Shigure said, "Now why don't you heat that up for us Yuki?"

"You're joking right?"

"Oh, of course. You're not to handy in the kitchen are you? Well Kyo, I guess that leaves you."

"Why do I gotta do it?!"

"No, no, it's alright," Shigure said sadly, "If you don't mind letting the lest of the wonderful beef stew that Tohru put her heart and soul into preparing for us get burnt to a crisp then neither do I. After all, I suppose burnt beef stew will be just as satisfying as burnt miso soup or burnt rice or burnt eggs or any of the fine burnt dishes Yuki used to make for us before Tohru fell into our lives. Ah, yes, we all seem to do quite well on our charcoal rich diet. I'm sure there's no reason we won't grow accostomed to it again."

He looked up and saw that Kyo was already stirring the pot over the stove. Soon they were all sitting around the table with bowls of soup in front of them. "I'd have to rate your presentation a zero," Yuki muttered.

"Fine, so do it yourself next time!"

"We thank you for this stew, Tohru," Shigure prayed, "wherever you are."

They all took a spoonful of soup. "Ah, I'm in heaven!" Shigure sighed, "And to think, two bright, handsome young men like you couldn't even find a way to keep the girls who cooked this delicious stew from leaving. Oh, the tradgedy!"

"If they can go back to their grandfather's house then there is no reason for them to stay here, is there," Yuki mumbled though he missed the twins as well.

Shigure sighed dramatically. "I'm afraid only our sorrow will tell us, as the long lonely hours without them pass us by," he moaned, "And our only solace will be the few scattered traces of those beautiful young girls' presence left about the house."

The boy glared at him. "Like this cute little strawberry towel for instance," Shigure continued, holding up the towel, "I found it still hanging in the shower. I have but to press it against my face and the sweet scent of those girls reminds me of happier days."

SLAM! Kyo and Yuki leaped across the table and beat up Shigure. "You sick bastard!" Kyo shouted.

* * *

Tohru and Kouen sat in their room, Tohru doing laundry and Kouen reading her gardening book. "Say," their uncle said walking in with a goofy pair of socks, "I found these socks in my drawer. You put them there?"

"Oh is that not right?" Tohru asked.

"Do these really look like something I'd wear?" he asked as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

Kouen got up from the bed and started towards him, her blood boiling. Tohru grabbed her sister's hand before she could get far though, "I-I'm sorry," Tohru mumbled, "I must have thought they were yours."

The man sighed exasperatedly. "Oh I swear what's the use," he mumbled, "Make a note: these are Grandpa's socks. Remember that."

Tohru smield sweetly as he left. "Oh, I really want to bust that guy's light out," Kouen muttered, "Here you are, doing his laundry and he has the nerve to talk to you like that!"

She plopped back down on the bed and started reading again. "Kouen could you spare a moment?" their aunt called from the kitchen.

"Coming," Kouen sighed, standing up.

She walked into the kitchen and saw her aunt cooking over the stove. "Could you bring me one of the big serving plates, please?" she asked.

"Sure, okay," Kouen said, trying her best to be helpful. She looked in the cabinets for the serving plates but didn't see them. Her aunt sighed with exasperation and walked over to a different cabinet. She pulled out a serving plate and turned to Kouen. "For future reference, we keep the serving plates over here," she muttered as though Kouen should know that. She still didn't know where the plates were in the Sohma's house.

Kouen glared at the woman and opened her mouth to say something that probably wasn't the best thing to say, but just then Tohru walked in. "Kouen," she hissed, "Don't!"

Kouen bit her lip and stomped out of the kitchen.

Later that night, they girls changed into their pj's and looked out the window. "Hey," Kouen said happily, "Look! It's a full moon."

"It's beautiful," Tohru sighed contently, "I wonder if Kyo and Yuki can see this right now."

"Maybe we're all looking at the moon together," Kouen thought wistfully.

* * *

The next day, the girls walked to school quietly. It was the first time in a while that they didn't have Kyo and Yuki with them. They usually kept the conversation going by arguing the while way.

They walked to their lockers and saw Kyo along the way. "Hi, good morning," Tohru said brightly.

"Yeah, hi," Kyo muttered back as he walked away.

Kouen glared at his retreating back. Tohru sighed and they kept walking. They ran into Yuki in the hallway too. "Miss Honda," he said, "and Kouen, good morning."

"Good morning to you too," Kouen said, happy that Yuki had called her by her first name.

"So how is life at Grandfather's house?" Yuki asked conversationally.

"Oh fine I guess," Tohru said, shoving Kouen aside before she could say anything, "Everyone's been really nice to us so far. They're making us feel right at home."

"That's good," Yuki said, "Sounds like you're fitting right in."

"Uh huh," Tohru smiled.

Kouen looked desperately at Yuki, begging him for help. He watched her in confusion. Tohru saw them looking at each other and grabbed Kouen's hand. "We should get too class," she said, dragging Kouen behind her, "See you later."

Kouen glanced back at Yuki and saw that he was still watching her. She blushed and followed Tohru. They sat at the back of class taking notes. "So that's it then," Kouen whispered, just loud enough for Tohru to hear, "From now on, I guess we shouldn't expect things to be the same between the four of us."

Tohru wrote her notes carefully and kept her eyes down. She knew Kouen was right.

* * *

When the girls walked back, they saw their aunt and uncle reading something around the table. "Hello," Tohru said brightly, "We're back for the day."

"Could you two spare a moment?" their aunt asked.

"Sure," Tohru said, giving a meaningful look to Kouen.

"It's my understanding that you've both been living in a house with three men, is that right?"

"No way!" their cousin said from the kitchen, "You were shacked up? Nice going."

Kouen glared at all of them. "Shacked up?" she hissed, "Okay, now let me tell you something sister-!"

"I had a detective agency do some checking up on you," their aunt interrupted.

"Yeah no kidding?" their cousin said, "So those kinda things still exist nowadays?"

"I don't understand?" Tohru said shakily, "Why would you go to all that trouble?"

"On account of our oldest son. It's his dream to become a policeman, so you can see how it might cause a problem for him were anyone in his family to have a criminal record. At first I did think hiring a detective agency seemed a bit extreme, until I remembered how wild Kyoko was in her youth. Like mother, like daughter as they say, or so I feared. Now, as long as you're living in this house, I have to ask you not to do anything so reckless in the future."

"Tell me, Kouen," their uncle said standing up, "Living in a house with three guys, I'll bet you had all sorts of fun. Tohru doesn't seem like that type but you on the other hand...."

Kouen actually snarled at him. Tohru grabbed her sister's arm to hold her back but it wasn't necessary. Because just then a loud slap sounded through the kitchen. Everyone gasped and stared at Granpa, whose hand was raised. Their uncle had a red mark on his cheek. "Grandpa," their aunt said, "What did you...?"

Their uncle blinked. "Don't you now how to do anything besides ridicule others?" Grandpa asked, "Girls, I apologize. Please don't think poorly of them. They're just disagreeable folks by nature."

"Grandpa what had gotten into you?"

"You can't say that!"

Tohru was more concerned with her sister. "Are you okay?" she asked Kouen.

"Yeah," Kouen said, breathing heavily, "But if they make one more crack about living with those boys I'm gonna break somebody's nose."

"Come on," Tohru said.

They walked out of the room and down the hall. Suddenly the door opened again behind them. "Girls?" Grandpa asked, "Please understand, this family is dear to me and this is where I live. Even if they do say a few thoughtless things I can tolerate it. However there's no reason for you to put up with it to keep living here."

"You want us to...?" Tohru said uncertainly.

"It's not like that, I'm not trying to chase you out of here. It's just that it wasn't like Kyoko to put up with anything, and you are her daughters. Do you understand? Kyoko would be more vivasiouse living in a place where she could spread her arms wide. Your father would have said so as well."

"Our father?" Kouen asked, "Really?"

Grandpa nodded. "So," he continued, "if there's somewhere you'd rather be darlings, you can go."

"But that wouldn't be right," Tohru said, "How could we be anything less than grateful for what we have? We've been blessed with a mother who loved us, two wonderful friends, Hana and Uo. What more could we possibly want when we have people in our lives who care abotu us as much as they do? There are so many people who have been kind to us, Kyo and the others, and you. You've given us a place at your table, a roof over our heads. We have so much to be thankful for right here."

He voice broke and Kouen saw tears were running down her face. "So where else would we rather be? Except, I didn't think leaving Kyo and the others would make me feel so lonely. There was still so much we hoped to learn about all of them. I wanted us to go on eating our meals together like a family, or we could talk to them about so many things. Everything."

"The truth of it is," Kouen mumbled, rubbing her eyes, "We didn't want to leave them at all. It felt like we belonged there. I wanted to stay in that house with Yuki and Shigure and even Kyo. I wanted to stay."

"In that case," a familiar voice said, "why not come home?"

Kouen and Tohru gasped in surprise and saw Yuki standing in front of them. "Yuki!" Kouen said happily. If Tohru hadn't still been holding her back, Kouen would've hugged him right there.

"Who is this?" their aunt said, coming into the room.

Suddenly a hand grabbed Tohru's head. "Come on," Kyo said behind her, "Let's go."

"Kyo?" Tohru said, "You're here too? But then...."

Kyo started dragging her out the door. Kouen smiled happily and hopped up and down a little, staying back with Yuki. "I hope you don't mind," Yuki said to Grandpa politely, "The door was unlocked so we let ourselves in. Can I find Miss Honda's things upstairs?"

"Now just a moment," Kouen's aunt said indignantly, "Who are you? What is going on here?"

"Don't worry, we'll be out of your way before you know it," he continued as though she hadn't spoken.

"Oh," Kouen's uncle said, "I get it now. These must be the two guys this little tramp was shacking up with."

Kouen shrieked angrily and lunged at the man's throat. Yuki grabbed her arm before she could do any permanent damage and pulled her behind him. Then he walked slowly over to the man and looked up at him menacingly. "Don't you ever talk about Kouen that way again," he hissed, "You low life."

He grabbed Kouen's hand and they went up the stairs to get the girls' things.

* * *

Kyo dragged Tohru down the street, his hand still on her head. "Wait," she said, "Kyo how did you get here?"

"What do you mean how? You left the directions," he snapped, "And what kind of a stupid map was that anyway? I got stuck having to walk around half this city looking for you with that damn Yuki!"

Tohu giggled. _The must have been fighting the whole way, _she thought, _and they still came to find us._

Kyo started at her. "What the hell are you smiling about?" he shouted.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Tohru apologized hastily.

"Uh, that's not what I meant to say," Kyo said, running a hand through his hair, "I, uh... what I mean is... I just, you know, I... ah, I don't even know why I'm doing this! It's just for some reason ever since you left I've been getting pissed off at everything, and I couldn't figure out why so it just pissed me off even more. Yuki too, he's been even more irritating than usual. And really, if you didn't wanna leave you could have said so from the beginning. You ever think about that?"

"What? But how do you-?"

"We heard you. Every word."

Tohru blushed and stared down at the ground. "You know you can tell people what you want," Kyo said after a moment, "I mean, it's annoying if you do it all the time, but I'd say in your case, you can stand to speak up for yourself a little more. Complain a little, get upset or something, let people know what's on your mind. It's waht you gotta do sometimes."

Tohru felt tears pricking the back of her eyes but she didn't bother holding them back. She just let them pour down her cheeks. Kyo jumped when he saw she was crying. "Oh come on! What did I say? Why are you crying?!" he shouted.

"Can we go?" Tohru whispered, "Please? I wanna... I wanna go home. Take me back to the house now, okay?"

Yuki and Kouen stood a few yards behind them. They were both smiling. Kyo grabbed Tohru's hand and pulled her along. "So walk already," he said, "I'm not gonna drag you the whole way there."

Kouen pulled Yuki over to the other two and they walked home together. Kouen and Yuki caught up with them and Kouen took Tohru's other hand. They all walked home with their hands linked together. One big happy family.

* * *

**Me: *sigh* One of my favorite episodes. And it showed Yuki and Kouen's relationship developing too.**

**Kouen: I liked it a lot! But don't you dare tell Yuki!**

**Me: Your secret's safe with me. Hey, it's still snowing too!**

**Kouen: Sweet! maybe you'll be able to do the next chappy tomorrow if you don't have school!**

**Me: That would rock! Well for now, I gotta go. Don't forget to review! I'll put your name on the "Wall of Fame" (a.k.a the next Author Note)**

**Kouen: See ya!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Me: Yay! More typing!**

**Tohru: Heehee I like this episode. It's funny! In this one I get to-!**

**Me: Waa! No! Don't spoil the surprise! You're as bad as Yuki.**

**Tohru: Oh I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! I'm so clumsy.**

**Me: *sigh* Nevermind. Alright special thanks to:  
StalkerOfFang  
Sayonara Yasashii Akumu  
siriuslover101  
iloveredshoes  
Rat300  
SwirlzSmile  
miss-latina  
****Astrologylover  
Prettykl  
RavenShichiyou****  
**

**Tohru: Whoa! That's a lot of reviews! Thank you all so much for reviewing last chappy!**

**Me: Yeah thank you! Keep up all the awesome work! Anyway, Tohru what are you here for?**

**Tohru: To tell everyone that you do not own Fruits Basket.**

**Me: Right! Now that that's done, let's get on with the show!**

Kouen and Tohru sat across the table from Shigure the next morning. Kouen elbowed Tohru in the ribs. "Ask him," she hissed.

"Why me? You do it?"

"No! He likes you better anyway."

"But I-,"

"Shigure," Kouen interrupted, "Tohru has something to ask you."

Tohru blushed. "Uh, as long as we're living here," she mumbled, "do you think it would be alright if we told two of our friends where we are? I'm sure they'd really like to know. If that's okay."

She glared at Kouen who smiled innocently. Shigure put his paper down and thought for a moment. Then he smiled. "So long as you don't mention anything about, you know, the Zodiac and whatnot I don't particularly mind."

Just then, Kyo and Yuki walked in, looking at them curiously. Tohru smiled. "Thank's so much," she said gratefully.

They both stood up and walked upstairs to get ready for school.

* * *

"What?!" Uo shouted, "So not only were the two of you living in a tent, but now you've moved into Prince Yuki's house?! Seriously?"

"Yes," Tohru said, "I'm sorry for not saying anything about it sooner."

"Me too," Kouen agreed, "There was a lot that happened, but everything's fine now, and they're all really nice people. So there's nothing to wrry about."

"This is definately a bolt out of the blue," Hana said as she munched on some chips, "I wonder, how will the Prince Yuki Fan Club girls react when they hear the news."

"You can't tell them," Kouen ordered, "If you do I'll never forgive you."

Uo smiled. "Don't worry, we won't," she assured Kouen, "I thought it was strange how you've been spending so much time talking to the Prince and Orange Top lately. Now I understand."

Hana crushed the empty bag of chips loudly, sending several birds soaring into the air. "Perhaps we should have them invite us over," she suggested, "I'd like to see for myself whether or not this is a suitable environment for either of you to be living."

"Hey, great idea," Uo said with a nod, "Let's check it out right now."

"Wait, if we show up unexpectadely, they might not serve snacks."

"Oh, another good point. You're two for two. Okay then, we'll stay over tomorrow night."

Kouen sighed resignedly. "Great," she moaned.

"Okay," Tohru mumbled.

* * *

"Hight school girls, high school girls," Shigure sang as he cleaned the table, "One, two, three, four, high school girls! Ah, I can't help but wonder what kind of girls these friends of Tohru and Kouen are."

"A yankee and a psychic," Kyo muttered and Shigure froze.

They all looked at Tohru and Kouen awkwardly. Suddenly someone knocked on the door. "Oh they're here," Tohru said, her and Kouen jumping up to get the door.

"Hi come in," Kouen said, "I guess you found the house okay?"

"No we got lost," Uo said.

"I'm thinking this was a bad idea," Kyo mumbled before the girls came back to the kitchen.

"Just don't do anything stupid," Yuki muttered.

"That goes double for you, you damn rat!" Kyo snarled.

"Yes," Shigure said seriously, "All of us would do well to be careful while they're here, because I wonder if either of these girls were to find out about the family curse, what would happen, do you think?"

Yuki and Kyo were silent. "At the very least," Shigure continued, "I suppose that Tohru and Kouen would no longer be allowed to stay in this house."

Yuki and Kyo stared at him nervously. "Well either way," Shigure said, his face turning from serious to happy, "something's bound to turn out! Que sera sera!"

"You just like hearing yourself talk don't you," Yuki muttered.

"There's a dog." Hana said.

All the boys jumped about a foot in the air. "Over there," Hana said, pointing at a dog that was staring in the window.

They all sighed with relief. "Oh, yes, that's a dog," Shigure grinned.

They all sat down around the table and looked around awkwardly. "So these are our friends," Kouen said, breaking the silence, "Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima."

"Hey,"

"A pleasure."

"Yes," Shigure said, "Welcome, welcome. Please, make yourselves right at home."

Say, it's Shigure right?" Uo asked, "This your place? So what do you do to pay the rent about here?"

"Oh, me?" Shigure asked, "I'm a writer. Well, novelist actually."

"Did you say you're a novelist?" Tohru exclaimed.

"Why the neck are tou so surprised?" Uo asked.

"This is the first she's heard of it." Hana surmised.

"Did you know?" Uo asked Kouen.

"Huh?" Kouen asked, examining something under her nails, "Oh, nope."

"Right," Tohru mumbled, "I really had no idea."

"What was it again?" Yuki asked, "Fine literature or something?"

"Uh huh," Shigure said with a nod, "This sort of story."

He held up a book that looked like the type of thing an old pervert would read. "Oh, sorry, my mistake," he mumbled, then he pulled out another book that looked relatively ordinary. "This is my real work. This other one here was just something I did for fun."

"So that makes it okay to write that dime store smut?" Uo shouted.

"You're a sicko, you know that!" Kyo hissed.

"What were you thinking?" Yuki muttered.

"Shigure that's amazing!" Tohru said brightly, "I mean, to think I actually know someone as important as a novelist!"

"Careful Miss Honda," Yuki said, "You don't want to inflate his ego too much."

"Like his head could get any bigger than it already is," Kyo snarled.

Kouen groaned. "What exactly is so amazing about writing that revolting garbage?" she mumbled.

Shigure laughed awkwardly. "Well enough about me," he said, "Why don't you tell us a little something about yourselves? You could start by telling us how you met Tohru and Kouen."

"What seriously?" Uo asked.

"I'm sure we'd all like to hear. Right Yuki, right Kyo?"

The boys ignored him. "Uo saved us!" Tohru said.

They all looked at her. Kouen cleared her throat. "Well me," Tohru said, "Kouen was at her locker."

"If I was there those little brats wouldn't have known what hit them," Kouen muttered, "Picking on my little sister."

"Little?" the boys asked.

"I'm two and a half minutes older," Kouen answered, "Anyway, what were you saying Tohru?"

"Oh yeah," Tohru said, "'Hey pinhead you better not step on those, you-!"

Everyone stared at her. "Wait, let me back up. This one time in middle school, I dropped all my notes in the hall-."

"What have I done," Shigure moaned.

Uo smiled. "Yeah, I remember that," she said, "I guess I could get a little rough back then."

"Back then?" Kyo and Yuki muttered.

"Well you were still a yankee then," Kouen said, "Weren't you?"

"Right, I started running with them in the fifth grade."

"You always used to wear those masks all the time."

"And I had my eyebrows thinned out wore those long skirts."

"You're forgetting, you do all of those things now, Arisa," Hana said calmy, reading the pervert book Shigure wrote.

"I guess you're right," Uo laughed.

"That's lovely," Shigure smiled, "She's so... how shall I say it? By putting it into words I'm afraid the nobility of it all would only be obscured."

"Of what?" Yuki asked.

"You know, she's so spunky!" Shigure said enthusiastically.

"You sick bastard," Kyo muttered.

"How sad," Hana said, still reading the book, "Love doomed from the start."

"You're reading that?" Uo asked.

"That silly little thing? Oh I'm flattered!" Shigure said happily, "So what do you think?"

"You don't want to know what I think," Hana mumbled.

"Oh. No?"

"But when is volume two coming out?"

"Look can we just knock it off with the books okay?" Uo muttered.

Kouen sighed. "This seems to be going well," she said sarcastically.

"Yes it does!" Tohru exclaimed.

"Tohru, sarcasm is a foreign language to you."

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

"I know!" Tohru jumped up, "I just thought of something fun we could do! Wait here, I'll be right back."

She skipped out of the room, leaving the five teenagers and the messed up novelist to themselves. Kouen rested her head on the table and blew some hair out of her face. Her eyes met Yuki's and grinned apologetically. He shrugged as if to say it wasn't a total disaster. Not yet anyway. "So then," Shigure said awkwardly, "Saki, you never did tell us how you, Tohru and Kouen got to be friends."

"Are you sure you're ready to hear?" Hana said darkly.

"Oh, uh, that's okay as long as you're friends now," Shigure mumbled nervously, "That's what's important!"

"We were in middle school," Hana continued anyway, "and I was tranferred into Tohru and Kouen's class."

"Ah," Shigure whispered, "Is that so?"

"Yes, you see at my previous school, I had caused something of a disturbance."

The boys froze in terror. Yuki looked back at Kouen, giving her a look that begged for help. "Uh, Hana, maybe you shouldn't tell them," Kouen tried.

"Well," Shigure said nervously, "That is a wonderful story isn't it? But I just remembered I had some work to do, so if you kids will excuse me."

He ran out of the room. Kouen sighed and sat up straight, leaning back on her hands. "Well," she said, "Since you guys seem to be having plenty of fun without me, I think I'll go see what's taking Tohru so long."

She stood up, kicking away Yuki's hand which had tried to reach out and grab her foot as she passed. "Don't talk so much," she said as she walked out the door, "You'll lose your voices."

They four of them were quiet for a while. Finally Uo spoke. "I gotta say," she said seriously, "I didn't know what to make of all this when they told us, but it looks like the two of them are fitting right in here. I'm happy for them. And I guess I can understand why they didn't want to say anything at first. But still, we made a promise. The four of us swore over Kyoko's grave that when the time came, we would be there to help each other, no matter what. That probably sounds a little bit over dramatic, but it wasn't really for us. After all, Tohru and Kouen were our first real friend and everything. Tohru and Kouen and Kyoko, you see, they were there for me when I needed someone most. Thanks to them, I found the strength to climb my way up out of all the crap I had fallen into. They helped me to believe in myself, that I could change if I wanted to. And when I met the three of them, for the first time, I discovered that I did want to change. I wanted to be someone Tohru and Kouen could be proud to call her friend, they way I was proud to call them mine. So this time around, with everything that's happened, the fact that I wasn't there to help them... that bothers me. I mean, that they would even think that them had to go through all this trouble by themselves, maybe they don't think they can count on us. Or maybe we're just not that good as friends."

"Naw, I don't think they're the kinda girls who worry about stuff like that," Kyo said.

"Miss Honda is the kind of person who puts other well being before her own," Yuki put in, "And Kouen, well she would do anything to make her sister happy, even if that meant living in a tent."

The two girls stared in shock at the boys. Suddenly the door slid open again. "I found her," Kouen announced as the twins walked in, "She was buried in a mountain of board games."

"Sorry it took so long," Tohru said, "I hope you're all ready to play."

She held up a deck of cards. "Rich Man Poor Man!"

Yuki looked up in surprise. "Ah that's a fine idea Tohru," Hana said.

"It was Kouen's idea," Tohru said, "I couldn't decide what to play and she helped me pick."

"Okay, how about we pick it up where we left off," Uo challenged, "I don't think I got to finish making a fool out of Orange Top here."

"Yeah, talk it up! But this time when I win you have to die your hair black!"

"Oh? Well when you lose you have to bleack all the die out of your hair and leave it white!"

"It's naturally this color!"

"Is that right?"

"That's right!"

"Would you like to shuffle the cards?" Kouen asked Yuki.

He blinked in surprise. "I, uh-"

"Stop stammering, yes or no?"

She laughed to show she was teasing him. He smiled too. "Sure," he agreed, "As long as you never leave me alone in a room with those three again."

She giggled. "No promises. I wish I'd set up a camera, it sounds like it would have been interesting to see."

Yuki laughed and shuffled the cards. Soon the game was in full swing and they were all having a blast. "Why you rotten little-!" Uo shouted at Kyo, "You and your cheap ass tricks!"

"Cheap nothing! That's fair game! You're the one playing tricks, yankee!"

They glared at each other. "Next time you pull that crap, I'm gonna light you up!" Uo shouted.

"Go ahead and try! It'll be the dumbest thing you ever did! I'll take you out!"

He stood up and started to leave. "Oh yeah?" Uo challenged, standin in the way of the door, "Some tough guy! You're running away!"

"Who's running? I'm going to the bathroom!"

"Aww, gotta take a leak?"

"What's it to you?"

"Better hurry, we don't want you to piss yourself."

"Dammit, you gotta foul mouth!"

He tried to get past her but she ran into him on accident. There was a puff of orange smoke and Kouen, Tohru and Yuki gasped. Finally the smoke cleared and they all looked around. Kyo was nowhere to be found. "Something wrong Miss Uotani?" Yuki asked innocently.

Uo blinked. "Uh, no," she said quietly, still trying to find Kyo.

The little lump under Kyo's clothes moved slowly. The orange cat crawled out without Uo seeing him and ran out the back door. "Well, that's good," Yuki said, "Because it sounded like things were getting pretty heated there for a moment."

Kouen laughed nervously. "I know," Tohru suggested, "Until Kyo get's back from the bathroom why don't we all play a quick game of Sevens?"

"Uh, sure let's play," Uo agreed.

She started to sit back down but she slipped on some of Kyo clothes. "Uo!" Kouen exclaimed, jumping up to catch the girl.

Unfortunately she tripped on Kyo's clothes too. "Kouen look out," Yuki exclaimed, trying to catch her.

There was a poof of pink smoke and Yuki disappeared. Kouen landed with a thud on the ground. The tiny gray rat crawled out from under her and sprinted to the exit. Hana and Uo were too busy fussing over Kouen to notice. Tohru quickley grabbed Yuki's clothes and stuffed them under the table. "Are you hurt at all?" Hana asked.

"No," Kouen said, "I'm alright."

She sat up and looked around. "I guess Yuki went... to get some snacks! Yeah, that's were he went. Heh heh."

She smiled innocently at her confused friends. Meanwhile, under the deck outside, Kyo and Yuki glared at each other. "Stupid cat!"

"Damn rat!"

The four girls sat around the staring at the cards, waiting for the boys to come back. "Well Orange Top sure is taking his time," Uo said, "And the Prince seems to be having some trouble finding the snacks."

"You're right," Hana said, "I wonder where our kind hosts have run off to."

"For the love of-! We can't even start this game of Sevens, you know?"

Kouen sighed and looked up. She gasped in surprise as a little orange cat paw reached above the deck, trying to grab the clothes on the floor. She looked at Tohru who was watching the paw nervously. "A cat," Hana said suddenly.

Kouen bit her lip. Just as Hana was about to turn around, Shigure rushed into the room. "Oh, you're playing Sevens, right?" he asked conversationally, blocking the cat paw from Hana's view, "That sounds like fun! Think you have room for one more?"

"Well if it isn't the master novelist," Uo said, "You any good at this game?"

Shigure laughed. "Well, you should know, in the old days they used to call me the Sevens Bandit," he said.

"Oh really!" Tohru exclaimed, "That's incredible!"

"I'll say. It's a lie." Uo muttered.

"But enough about me," Shigure said, sitting down at the table, "Let's get to playng shall we? So what are the rules?"

Suddenly there was a boom sound as Kyo changed back to normal. Kouen, Tohru, and Shigure jumped. "You guys hear that?" Uo asked, "It sounded like some kinda boom."

"There was a deifinate boom," Hana agreed.

_This is not good! _Tohru thought, _I think Kyo just changed back to normal!_

_Unless we do something, those two are going to see him, _Shigure though frantically, _And what's worse, he'll be naked!_

Tohru reached for Yuki's clothes. _I know! For now I'll just throw him Yuki's clothes! Maybe no one'll notice!_

_It doesn't matter! Anything to cover him up! _Shigure grabbed Yuki's clothes just as Tohru did. He tried to throw the clothes that Tohru was holding onto out the door, but he wasn't expecting to throw a girl along with them. _Why is this so heavy? _he thought.

He looked up just in time to see Tohru crash into him. In a poof of blue smoke, Shigure had turned into a dog. Uo and Hana turned around while Kouen buried her face in her hands. Tohru blinked as the smoke disappeared and she saw that she was hugging a dog. Her two friends stared at her curiously. "Woof," Shigure said.

"Ah!" Tohru said, hugging the black dog tighter, "I thought you'd run away! I'm so happy you're back, uh... Spot!"

_Spot?_ Shigure and Kouen thought.

"Arf! Arf!"

"That's odd," Hana said, "It appears we've run out of snacks. I'll go find the kitchen."

She stood up and turned around. But as she started walking towards the kitchen, Kyo, who had grabbed his clothes and was now fully dressed, bumped into her. With another explosion of orange, he changed back into the cat. Kouen cussed under her breath and Tohru groaned. Shigure jumped to his feet. _Oh no! _he thought,_ Kyo just change back and the idiots already transformed again! Okay, I've got to cause a diversion!_

He ran around the room, barking frantically as Kyo hit the ground with a thud and ran back out the door. Poof! _Oh no! Not Yuki too!_ Shigure grabbed Yuki's clothes in his mouth and tossed them out the door. They were all quiet for a moment. "That's weird," Uo said finally, "I swear I saw Orange Top in here. Ah!"

Shigure ran over and started barking in her face. "I think Spot's trying to tell us he's hungry," Yuki said, finishing buttoning up his shirt, "Don't you?"

"Yes!" Tohru agreed, "That must be it! Here, come on boy, lets go to the kitchen, Spot."

"I'm coming too," Kouen volunteered, jumping up eagerly.

"Kouen, Tohru, wait," Hana said.

The girls froze. "Some more snacks," Hana asked, "If you don't mind."

"Sure," Kouen said, "Yuki was _supposed to get them, _but since he didn't we'll grab some."

"Right," Yuki said, "I, uh, couldn't find any. But you'll probably have more lick than me."

Kouen nodded and walked into the kitchen with Tohru and "Spot" When the door slid shut, she leaned on the counter with a relieved sigh. "This is not going well," she said.

Tohru got a bowl and put some water in it. She set it on the ground and Shigure took a long drink from it. "I'm really sorry," she said as she knelt down next to the dog, "I promise the last thing I wanted was for this to cause everyone so much trouble."

"Hey, there's nothing to apologize for," Shigure mumbled between gulps.

"I'm not so sure," Kouen muttered.

Shigure looked up at both of them. "If these people are important to you," he said, "then they are important to us to. Do you understand?"

Tohru smiled as did Kouen. "Yes," they said in unison, "We understand. Thank you."

"Oh but I net Yuki's wondering where we are," Tohru said standing up.

She grabbed some jelly buns from the pantry and put a bunch on a plate. She rushed out the door happily. "Sorry to keep you waiting!" she apologized as she walked through the doorway.

Unfortunately, Yuki was about to walk into the kitchen and she accidently bumped into him. Yet another explosion of smoke and Yuki flew into the air along with all the jelly buns. "Miss Honda!" he whispered frantically, "Kouen!"

"Oh no!" Tohru mumbled under her breath, "Yuki!"

"Help!" the little rat begged.

"But you're mixed in with all of the jelly buns! I can't tell where you are!"

"Here Miss Honda!" Yuki said, waving to get her attention.

"Where? Where are you?"

"Here!"

"Let's see, jelly bun... jelly bun... jelly bun... ah! Yuki!"

She reached out toward the rat. "Wait Miss Honda!" Yuki said, "That not me! That's a jelly bun!"

She grabbed the jelly bun out of mid air and squished it to hard all the jelly came out. "Yuki!" Kouen shouted from behind Tohru.

She reached forward and grabbed the rat just before he hit the ground. She quickly hid him behind her back. "Can't... breath!" Yuki gasped.

Kouen immediately slackened her grip. "Sorry," she whispered.

Everyone stared at Tohru, still holding her smooshed jelly bun. "Hey, Tohru, nice catch!" Uo praised.

"Arf!"

"Though most of them still fell." Hana said.

Kouen let go of Yuki who fell onto Shigure's head. Shigure ran off to the laundry room and looked into the empty washing machine. "Hmm," he sighed, "I thought we'd at least find something to wear in here."

"So it's empty then?" Yuki asked.

"Well, Tohru is very thorough about doing the wash."

"Aww, hell with it," Kyo hissed, from the laundry basket he had been hiding in, "Just let 'm see us. All we gotta do is erase those girls' memories amd we'll be fine, right?"

"I suppose that's true, as long as you're okay with that," Shigure said.

"Okay with what?"

"It would mean Tohru and Kouen's memory would have to be erased as well."

Kyo's eyes widened. He groaned. "Stay here," he said, jumping out of the basket, "I'm gonna get us some clothes."

He smashed around in his room and managed to tie some clothes around his neck. He raced out of the room and practiaclly flew down the stairs. He reached the bottom just as Uo was walking out of the kitchen. Kyo hissed in surprise as her foot almost crushed him. "Arisa," Hana warned, "You're about to step on-"

Just then, Shigure ran by with Yuki and picked Kyo up in his mouth. He rushed out the back door and into the bushes. "Yeah, about to step on what?" Uo asked.

"An orange cat, with clothes tied around its neck."

Tohru gasped and Kouen dropped the cards she was holding. "Being carried in the mouth of a dog, who went that way." Hana pointed to the bushes and they all looked out. Shigure, Kyo, and Yuki were standing outside, the bushes blocking the from the waist down. Shigure was rubbing his back with a pair of jeans. "One two! One two!" he chanted, "Nothing get's the blood flowing like a rub down with a dry towel! One two! One two!"

"Idiot." Yuki muttered.

* * *

That night, Uo, Hana, Tohru, and Kouen sat on the bed in the twins room. "This is a fine bed," Hana said.

"Isn't it," Tohru said brightly, "Shigure bought it for us."

"Why didn't he buy one for each of you?" Uo asked, "Oh, wait. You're still having those nightmares, aren't you Kouen?"

Kouen blushed and fiddled with the sheet. "I haven't had them since I started sharing a bed with Tohru," she said quietly, "And the bed is so big that it doesn't really matter."

"Well from the looks of it he must really think big of you, huh," Uo said, changing the subject.

"That's exactly how it appears," Hana said.

"As long as he's at it, this room could probably use some more, you know, girl stuff," Uo said, "Like over there, you should have him put in a dressing table, or something like that."

"Oh no," Tohru said hastily, "We couldn't think about wanting more! We'd be asking for it, really. I mean, we only just started to realize how lucky a person we are to have so much already, you know. We have a new home, living here with the Sohmas, and the two most wonderful friends in the world who care about us so, so much."

"Just knowing that we can always count on you to be there for us," Kouen continued, "and how much strength that gives us, we're already so lucky. If we're not thankful for what we have, we'd just be asking for it."

"I love you both," the twins said at the same time.

Uo and Hana smiled. "I guess they do understand them," she said, thinking of what Kyo and Yuki had said about the girls earlier, "Pretty well, I'd say."

"That they do," Hana agreed, "They are those kind of girls."

They girls hugged the twins happily. "Invincible love," Hana said poetically.

"That's right," Uo said.

The twins smiled. "Right," the both said.

* * *

The next morning, Tohru and Kouen got up before Uo and Hana to make breakfast. Well, Tohru made breakfast while Kouen dozed at the table. Kouen really couldn't sleep without Tohru, she got horrible nightmares, but that's another story.

Kyo walked into the kitchen and got some milk. When he finished the carton he put it down and saw Yuki standing in the doorway with a dull look on his face. "Uh," Kyo stammered, "Hey, Yuki are you-?"

"Hmm," Yuki moaned, falling asleep on Kyo's shoulder.

"Gyah!" Kyo shouted.

"So Yuki's having are hard time waking up too?" Kouen asked drowsily.

"Yeah, yeah! Just keep moving will ya!" Kyo shouted.

Yuki stumbled away to the table. Kouen laughed quietly and poked Yuki who didn't react. "Wow Kyo," Tohru said, "With as much as you want to beat Yuki, you still don't try yo sneak up on him when he's like this. it's very admirable."

"No that's not it," Kyo muttered, "It's not like that. He's stronger when he's half asleep."

"Oh, so you have tried to attack him then?"

"Yeah I tried, and I got beat even worse than when he's awake okay!" Kyo shouted at the top of his voice, "Do you know what that means! It means that stupid, dirt, little sissy, Rat Boy's always holding back on me!"

BAM! Yuki punched Kyo in the face. "What gives! I thought youwere still out of it!" Kyo hissed.

"Your stupid voice woke me up," Yuki muttered.

"Fine, I don't care any more dammit! Asleep or not it's you and me, right now! I'm gonna mop up this kitchen with your face!"

"How can you even talk about this nonsense so early in the morning?"

"A cat and a mouse."

Everyone in the kitchen jumped about a foot in the air at the sound of Hana's voice. "That's what they're like," she continued.

"You think?" Uo asked.

"The way they're fighting, it's like the cat and mouse. Just like the ones in the old cartoon."

"Yeah," Uo agreed, "Something-or-other and Jerry. So the two of you don't get along to well, do you?"

"I suppose not," Yuki said politely.

"Even so, this seems like a pleasant enough house," Hana said, "Which is good, because if it had been a poor environment for Tohru and Kouen to be living in, there are many things I would have to do to correct it. Yes, many things."

"What kind of many thing?" Kyo and Yuki asked nervously.

"But I can see that the two of you," Hana continued, skipping over their question, "both have fine electric signals."

"Huh?"

"Oh you didn't know? That's even better, I think."

"Well," Uo said, hugging the twins, "I'm sure you'll do your best to be nice."

"To Tohru and Kouen we mean," Hana said, hugging them as well.

"Uo," Kouen said, blushing happily, "Hana."

"We'll come by for another visit soon," Uo assured the boys.

"Yes, let's. I'm curious to learn more about the Sohma family's unique signals."

The two of them left talking about where to go for breakfast. "Hey, hey hey!" Kyo shouted, "You gotta be kidding! Damn girls are taking over!"

"I know it must seem that way," Tohru said, "but they mean well. You'll see, Uo and Hana are both really, really good people. Right Kouen?"

Kouen mumbled something unintelligible, her head resting on the table. "At least I'm not the only person semi-consiouse at 9:00 in the morning." Yuki smiled.

Kyo sighed. "Fine, whatever," he muttered.

"After all they are your friends, right?"

Tohru nodded. "Right!" she said happily.

* * *

**Me: All done!**

**Tohru: Yay! Onto the next one!**

**Me: Oh and by the way, you will learn more about Kouen's nightmares later. But for now you'll just have to remain clueless. Don't worry, it's all part of my master plan! Mwahahaha!**

**Tohru: Umm...**

**Me: Well, until next time! Don't forget to review! You will get a place on the wall of fame!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Me: *hiding behind chair* H-hello everyone....**

**Kagura: Hi! Maddy's scared because she thinks you are mad at her for taking this long to update! Heehee!!**

**Me: You don't even need to tell them that. I hear that they can _smell_ fear!**

**Kagura: Don't be silly Maddy! They are just people after all. And if they did try to eat you like you think they will... I WOULD HAVE TO BEAT THEM UNTIL THEY VOMIT YOU BACK UP!!!**

**Me: *mouthing over Kagura's shoulder* I'm sorry!**

**Kagura: Anyway, Maddy had me come here because she wanted me to help her with the disclaimer.**

****

Me: Alright say it.

**Kagura: She does not own any of Fruits Basket series! Heehee!**

**Me: Okay, I think I've made you wait long enough. On with the show!**

**Kagura: Wait, what about the Wall of Fame?**

**Me: Oh yeah! Special thanks to...  
SwirzSmile  
LightningStar 0.o  
StalkerOfFang  
Sayonara Yasashii Akumu  
iloveredshoes  
siriuslover101  
11Renee11  
mewmewlover23  
storywriter dream  
lolchic  
Witchgirl590  
vampires-ninjas-ohmy  
miss-latina  
kitsunelover300**

**Kagura: Oh my goodness! That's a lot!**

**Me: I know right! Fourteen people! Thank you all so much! Okay now let's get this show on the road!  
**Tohru and Kouen sat at their desks, listening to Yuki talk about the Cultural Day Festival that was coming up. Things had been pretty hectic at school lately, since there was only a week left until the the Festival started. Everyone was doing their part to get everything ready. Class 1D, Tohru, Kouen, Yuki, and Kyo's class, was doing refreshments. That was what they were talking about. "I'm pleased to announce that the health inspection have been completed," Yuki said, "and we've been given permission to open our rice ball stand. All that's left to decide is what flavor rice balls we'd like to sell. Any suggestions you may have on the matter would be more than welcome."

"Rice balls?" Kouen mumbled, "Why is it always rice balls?"

"Well, what if we try making three flavor rice balls?" Tohru suggested, "We can use three different ingredients and it'll be like getting three rice balls in one. It could be fun!"

"How nice. A fine idea," Yuki said with a smile.

Kouen nodded supportively at her sister. "Eww!" one of the fanclub girls smirked, "I think you mean how disgusting! No way!"

"Like if you had salmon and miso and pickled plums all mixed together?" another fanclub girl said.

The first gagged. "That'd be the sickest thing in the world," she mumbled.

Uo jumped up and slammed her lead pipe on the desk. The girls shrieked. "It couldn't be any more sickening than your crappy attitudes, could it?" she hissed.

"Don't they have rules against bringing lead pipes to school?" the girls whimpered.

Kouen flipped through Tohru student handbook. "Hmm, no guns, no knives, no drugs... nope, I don't see anything about lead pipes. Oh wait... no that says no iron pipes, not lead."

She high fived Uo and the fanclub girls hid under their desks. "I say we make it a rice ball battle," Kyo said.

"A battle?"

"One-on-one, one round, no holds barred," he muttered, clenching his fist, "And even if they get bloody noses, or pull each others arms off they have to fight for the prize! Rice balls!"

"No way." everyone said.

Yuki tilted his head thoughtfully. "What about a hit or miss?" he said.

"Interesting," one of the other student council members said.

"We'll have a special offer," he continued, "Anyone who buys three rice balls can choose a fourth for free. Only we'll have some misses mixed in that we can make with some strange ingredient or something."

"That's a great idea!"

"I second that!"

"Oh sure!" Kyo shouted angrily, "So you're all just going to follow whatever dumb idea he says!"

"You can't call us followers for knowing a good idea when we hear it," one of the other boys said.

"Yeah, your idea was to weird," another said.

"How so?" Kyo snapped.

"Who wants to get all bloody over a rice ball?"

"Ah, don't get mad Kyon-kyon."

"Hey, don't call me Kyon-kyon!"

"What's wrong with that?"

Kouen snickered and looked over at Yuki. He looked irritated for some reason. She sighed, looking at the way the other kids treated Kyo. _I bet that has something to do with it,_ she said.

"I have a student council meeting to attend," Yuki said the other student council member, "so if you wouldn't mind handling the arrangements for building the stand?"

"Sure, just leave it to me!" she said enthusiastically.

"Hold on!" one of the boys shouted before Yuki could leave, "There was still something I needed to ask you!"

"Yeah, me too Yuki, I have a question for you too!"

"Yuki! I have a question!"

Kyo's eye twitched angrily. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bunch of cats ran up to him and started climbing all over him like some kind of play toy. "Eep!" Kouen squealed nervously.

"Whoa , how did they get in here?"

"And so many!"

"How cute!"

"Kyo," Tohru murmured, "Oh no!"

"Gyaa!" Kyo shouted, jumping from his desk, "Dammit all!"

He ran out the room, making sure to smash the door on his way out. Yuki sighed exasperatedly. "Strange boy," Hana said quietly.

Tohru froze, hoping that they weren't catchnig on. "Yeah, like you're one to talk," Uo said, "You're pretty strange yourself, you know. But he does have one hell of a violent temper, I'll give you that."

"Yes, he's quite rowdy," Hana agreed.

"The complete opposite of the Prince. Hard to believe they're related."

"I'm going to go find him," Tohru whispered to Kouen, "I think I have an idea of where he is."

"Pouting on the roof, no doubt," Kouen muttered, "Go ahead, I'll cover for you."

Tohru smiled gratefully at her sister. She jogged out of the room and out the the front door of the school. She looked around for some way to get to the roof an dwas relieved to find a ladder leading up to the top of the school. She pulled herself up and smiled when she saw Kyo, laying on his back, covered in cats. "I was right," she said happily.

"Waa!" Kyo shouted, jumping at the sound of her voice.

"I had a feeling you'd be up here," Tohru explained, "I guess whenever I need to find you I just need to look in the highest place."

"What is it with you?" Kyo snapped, "You always gotta sneak up on me like that?"

"Aww, hello Mr. Cat," Tohru giggled, holding up a white kitten, "You're so cute!"

The cat purred happily as Tohru hugged it, gently rubbing its soft fur against her face. "These cats sure do like you, don't they."

Kyo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, don't ask me why. They just show up on their own. Same with dogs for Shigure, and rats for Yuki."

"Oh, that must be fun!"

"How the hell is it fun?! This one time I was hiking in the mountains with Kagura and we got surrounded by a whole pack of boars! I thought they were gonna eat us!"

Tohru laughed. "It is not funny!" Kyo shouted.

"I'm sorry," Tohru said, still smiling.

Kyo sighed. "Well, what did you want?" he asked a little more calmly.

"Oh, nothing really," Tohru said quietly, "I was just worried, that's all. You seemed so upset when you left. Don't you want to help out with the festival preparations?"

A cool wind blew past, ruffling Kyo's bright orange hair. He started stubbornly off into the distance. "What do they need me for? They've got Yuki, don't they. I doubt anyone's gonna miss me."

Tohru blinked in surprise. "They're all to busy looking to him. That's the way it always is, ever since we were kids. He's always been the smart one and he knows how to get stuff done and he's good with people, all that. And everybody around him is always telling him how talented he is. He doesn't even have to try and they all look up to him. Anyway, it's just like with martial arts, I've been training way longer than he has, but he's still better than me."

_"It's true, huh? The children of the rat really are special, aren't they."_

_"Yes they certainly are."_

_"And compared to them, the children of the cat are..."_

Kyo winced at the memory and glared at nothing in particular. "It makes me sick," he growled, "I mean, what do I gotta do to be someone like that, you know? Why can't I be more like... like him?!"

"Kyo," Tohru whispered.

_"Kyo, he's shy when he first meets people, but after he get's to know then he can open up to them, be himself. Because of what he is, Kyo can never be accepted into the Zodiac. But isn't it better that he can be accepted my normal people for who he is. That is exactly what I've always wanted."_

Yuki's words seemed to echo in Tohru's head. _So Yuki wants to be like Kyo, _she thought, _and Kyo wishes he could be more like Yuki. So why is it, that even though they both secretly admire each other, it just pushes them farther apart? Why is that people feel that they have to be somebody else? Why do they have to feel jealous? If they can see the admirable qualities in somebody else, why can't they see the admirable qualities in themselves?_

The next day, Tohru got up extra early to start making the rice balls for the festival. She set all the ingredients out and made the rice perfectly. She set to work, cutting up the food and shaping the rice balls, humming merrily to herself all the while. "What the hell is this?!" Kyo shouted when he walked into the kitchen, "You trying to turn this place into a rice ball shop?!"

"Oh, good morning!" Tohru said happily, "You're up early, aren't you."

"No, this is when I always get up," he replied, grabbing one of the rice balls.

"Uh, Kyo," Tohru stammered, "That's a - !"

Kyo took a bite and immediately gagged, spitting out the chewed up rice. "A leek rice ball," Tohru mumbled.

"Why would you even make this crap!" Kyo shouted, leaning over the sink.

"Well, we're going to try a hit or miss stand remember," Tohru reminded him, "so that ones a miss. I can make something else for you if you have any ideas."

"I don't know, salmon or cod's okay, I guess. Oh forget, I'll just make some myself, jeez."

He opened the rice cooker and took out a spoonful of rice, shaping it perfectly. "Wow, Kyo! That's amazing!" Tohru praised, "The way you make rice balls, you're really talented! Incredible, I had no idea!"

"Well, when I was out training, I had to make all my own meals and stuff," Kyo said, "I just make the plain kind, nothing fancy."

"Even so, I bet if we found someone who had devoted their whole life to the art of rice ball making and asked them, they'd still say they admired how well you do it."

"Where the hell you gonna find someone like that?!" Kyo shouted, "I mean come on, that's gotta be the dumbest thing I ever heard, art of rice ball making."

He chuckled quietly and walked out to the table with his rice ball. "That still doesn't change the fact that it's admirable," Tohru mumbled to herself.

She walked out and leaned against the doorway to the kitchen. _Why can't he see that himself? _she thought.

Her eyes fell on his back and an idea popped into her head. "Maybe, the reason you don't see it, is because it is stuck to your back," she said out loud.

Kyo turned around and looked at her. "What I mean is," she continued, "a person's admirable qualities. They're just like, say, a pickled plum on a rice ball. In other words, the person is the rice ball and the plum's stuck to their back. So all over the world, you could have rice balls made with all sorts of wonderful ingredients, all different flavors and shapes and colors. But since they'd be stuck in the middle of everyone's back, someone could have a plum and not even know it! They'd look at themselves and think 'I'm so plain, nothing but white rice.' even though it isn't true, because turn them around and sure enough, there it is. There's the plum. So if someone is jealous of somebody else, well then, it's probably because it's easier to see the plum on someone else's back than it is on your own. Yep, I can see it! I can see it very clearly Kyo! You don't know it, but you have a great, big plum on your back. Yuki's admirable in his way, and you're admirable in yours!"

"Okay now that's definately the dumbest thing I ever heard!" Kyo shouted, "And what's so great about a stinking plum anyway?!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Tohru apologized, "We can change it to salmon if you want."

Kyo rolled his eyes and turned around. Suddenly a high pitched, whining sound came from the kitchen. "Excuse me, I guess I left the kettle on," Tohru said quietly.

She stood up to go into the kitchen and saw Kouen walking dowsily down the stairs. "What's all the yelling about?" she mumbled.

"Oh, nothing," Tohru sighed, "Kyo accidentally ate a leek rice balls, that's all."

Kouen snorted. "Nice trick," she praised as she walked into the kitchen, "I'll get the kettle."

"Hey," Kyo said to Tohru suddenly, "You've got one too. I mean stuck to your back... there's a plum."

Tohru blinked in surprise. "I-I can see it," he muttered.

"You can see it?" Tohru mumbled.

"Yeah, but it's really small like a baby plum!"

Tohru smiled. "Baby plums are delicious!" she said.

"No it's way, way tiny!"

The kettle turned off and Kouen walked back out of the kitchen. "Whoa, what did you do to make him blush like that?" she said, giggling about the color of Kyo's face.

"You just shut up!" Kyo shouted.

"Kyo's blushing! Hey, everyone Kyo's blushing! Yuki! Shigure! Tohru said something to embarrass Kyo!"

"Alright that's it!"

Tohru smiled happily and looked out the window as Kyo chased Kouen around while she kept shouting, "Kyo's blushing!" in a singsong voice. It was starting off to be a really good day.

* * *

A few days later, on the day of the Cultural Festival, class 1D stood in their classroom making the stand for the rice balls. "Hey what are you doing?" Kyo snapped, holding a hammer up horizontally to see if the sign was straight, "It's still crooked."

"No one's gonna notice anything so small, Cat Lover," one of the boys putting up the sign said.

"Yeah, you're just being finicky."

"That's right, Cat Lover, it's only gonna last one day."

Kyo glared at them. "What's the deal with all this 'Cat Lover' crap?" he shouted, waving the hammer around, "You trying to make fun of me or something?"

"Ah, we got you figured out. You talk tough, but deep down you're just a gentle guy who loves animals."

"Aww!" they all exclaimed.

"Hey, knock it off, will ya! For the last time, those weren't even my cats!"

"I guess it's a good thing they don't really have him figured out," Kouen whispered to Tohru.

"Why is it every time Orange Top's around I get a headache?" Uo muttered.

"Well at least this time he's trying to help," Yuki said, looking up from his clipboard, "which for him is pretty rare."

"I don't know," Tohru said brightly, "You have your way of helping, Yuki, and he has his, that's all."

Yuki sighed and looked back down at his clipboard. "Oh Yuki!" the fanclub girls called.

He looked up in surprise and turned around. They giggled girlishly. "Hello?" he said nervously.

"Guess what!" one of the said happily, "We have a surprise for you Yuki! It's a present!"

"All the senior girls chipped in and bought it! We thought it'd be the greatest thing if you could wear it today!"

Yuki blinked. "Uh, wear?" he asked.

They giggled again and held up the frilliest, girliest, most up-chuckiest dress ever. "Ta-da! A one of a kind Festival Day costume just for you Yuki!"

Yuki's eyes widened in horror. Kouen bit her lip to keep from laughing. It didn't work. She snorted once and that was all it took to send her into hysterics on the floor. "G-go ahead and put it on!" she gasped between laughs, "I'm sure you'll look c-c-cute! Ahahahaha!"

Tohru nudged her sister with her foot. "Don't act so immature!" she whispered so that only her sister could hear, "And besides, I thought you liked Yuki? Why are you laughing at him?"

"This is how I show affection, by laughing hysterically until I pass out from oxygen deprivation! Bahahaha!"

Tohru rolled her eyes at her sister. How could they be related?

* * *

"Rice balls! Rice balls!"

"Buy three, get one free!"

The Cultural Festival was in full swing and everyone loved the rice balls in class 1D. "Wow, they're selling like crazy," one of the boys said.

"We're on track for first in the food category!"

"I think we have all the delicious food Tohru made to thank for that!"

Tohru blushed crimson. "Oh no, don't be silly," she said modestly.

"And I just love these cat shaped ones!"

"Thanks, but I don't think they're what's attracting everyone to our booth, you know?" she said.

Everyone looked over at Yuki and Kouen had to hold her breath to keep from laughing again. He was standing by the door, looking like he just wanted to curl up and disappear. Everyone was standing around, taking pictures and saying how cute he looked. "Stop!" the fanclub girls shouted, running arond in front of him, "No pictures! Yuki doesn't like pictures!"

"Good point, he is definately an attraction," one of the boys said.

They all nodded. "I suppose we couldn't ask for better advertising, huh," a student council girl said and they nodded again.

Yuki looked over at the Honda twins and immediately looked away. "Oh, I hope I haven't done anything to make Yuki mad at me," Tohru said nervously, "He looks upset."

"He's probably mad that I c-can't stop laughing," Kouen snorted, "I just can't control myself! A boy in a dress that even I wouldn't wear... ahahahaha!"

She stuffed her fist in her mouth to keep from laughing. But that just made her feel like she was about to explode. "Ah, don't worry about it," Kyo muttered, "My guess is, it's more embarrassment than he can stand having to dressup like that. I mean, he's already got a big enough complex over that girly face of his."

"Yuki!" someone shouted.

A little girl, uh boy, um... oh whatever, who looked about twelve years old, with blond hair jumped through the air and landed on Yuki's shoulders. "Yuki, you look like a girl," the kid said.

His light brown eyes glittered and he smiled happily. "What the hell," Kyo moaned, "What is that little brat doing here?"

"Oh is that someone you know then?" Tohru asked curiously.

"Momiji, you're not to go running off by yourself," a young looking man said as he walked in. He had dark brown hair that covered his left eye. He wore a plain brown vest over a white shirt. He carried a doctors bag, and all in all, looked very proffesional. "Yuki, Kyo, I see you're looking well," he said.

"Hatori!" Yuki exclaimed.

Everyone gathered around the attractive strangers and started talking excitedly about them. "Hi there, I'm Momiji Sohma," the blond said, "and this guy here is Hatori Sohma, and yeah, we're two of Yuki and Kyo's relatives."

"Oh is that right?" Kouen said, officially over her laughing spasms.

"That's right," Kyo muttered, "But nevermind Momiji, what's that bastard Hatori doing here?"

"Maybe they're part of the Zodiac too," Kouen whispered to Tohru.

Hatori took out a stethoscope from his doctor bag and, putting the ear peices in his ears, held up the other end to Yuki's chest. "Alright, now take a deep breath," he instructed.

"Hatori's a doctor," Kyo explained.

"So, why is he here?" Kouen asked curiously.

"Couldn't we have found a better time for this?" Yuki muttered.

"We did, we had an appointment. You should know you can't skip your monthly check up."

"Check up?" Kouen asked, "Yuki, why would you need a check up? Is there something wrong?"

"Um, sort of," Yuki said uncomfortably.

"Yuki's bronchial tubes are fairly sensitive," Hatori said, "He used to suffer from frequent asthma attacks when he was a child. It's a condition he's gradually growing out of."

He pulled the stethoscope out of his ears and put it back in his bag. "But we like to be sure." he continued, "I'm assuming the two of you are Tohru and Kouen Honda."

"I'm Kouen," Kouen said, "That's my twin, Tohru."

"Uh, yes," Tohru stammered awkwardly, "Nice to meet you."

"Indeed. I didn't expect you'd be such ordinary girls."

"Ordinary?" Kouen challenged, her tone rising dangerously.

"Hatori!" Yuki snapped.

"Ahh!" a girl shrieked over by the rice ball stand, "Don't! You can't climb on the stand!"

Momiji was sitting hapily on the stand eating a rice ball and swinging his legs back and forth. "What do you think you're doing you little runt!" Kyo shouted, grabbed Momiji and trying to pull him from the fragile table.

"Uh, excuse us, I think they need our help," Tohru said hurriedly, "Come on Kouen."

"Why me? You know I'm just gonna make it worse."

"Just come on."

They rushed over to the table and tried pulling Momiji from the stand, but he refused to get off. Yuki and Hatori stood by the chalkboard, watching the events unfold. "Why did you have to come here?" Yuki asked.

"You can save your complaints for Akito," Hatori said, "It was his idea. Of course he originally planned to come himself."

Yuki stared up at Hatori nervously. "He was running another one of his fevers, so I made him stay home, doctors orders," Hatori explained, "As a result he sent me here in his place. And since I was already watching Momiji for the day, he naturally had to come with me."

"Waa!" Momiji cried as Kyo trying to pry him from the stand.

"Is this what you call looking after him?" Yuki mumbled.

"Just be grateful we came later, there were fewer people. I know why you're tense, don't be. I didn't come for the Honda twins today. Whether or not I do in the future is still for Akito to decide."

Yuki glared at Hatori. Wak! "There!" Kyo shouted, slamming Momiji on the ground behind a curtain where they put the extra rice balls, "Now you stay here and sit still!"

"Waa!" Momiji cried, "Somebody! Kyo hit me!"

"Is everything okay?" Tohru asked politely, coming behind the curtain too.

"Ah! You're Tohru!" Momiji said excitedly, "Right? Tohru Honda? Did I get it right?"

"Uh huh," Tohru said, "And this is - ."

"Kouen Honda!" Momiji said, "I almost didn't get it becuase you guys look so much alike! Now me! Guess who I am!"

"You're Momiji," Kouen and Tohru said in unison.

"You remembered my name! I'm so happy! Tohru, Kouen, let's be friends okay?"

"Uh," Kouen stammered.

"Sure!" Tohru said happily.

"Hey, so you guys already know about the whole Zodiac thing, right? Right?"

"Uh, right," Tohru said.

"That's great!" he exclaimed, "I can hug you!"

He jumped forward but Kyo pulled him back. "Hold it lover boy!" Kyo shouted.

"But they don't mind if I transform in front of them, do you?"

"Do you even know where you are?" Kyo hissed.

"Well that answers that question," Kouen laughed.

"Kyo, you're just trying to keep them all to yourself because they're so cute! You probably hug her everyday!"

"What?!" Kyo immediately let go of Momiji, "Hell no! Who would wanna do that?!"

"ME!" Momiji shouted, wrapping the twins in a huge hug.

There was a explosion of smoke and Momiji disappeared. "Was that an explosion?" someone exclaimed on the other side of the curtain.

"What's the matter?" a boy said, pulling back the curtain so everyone could see.

A yellow rabbit was perched on Tohru's knee staring at the surprised onlookers. "Hey what's with the rabbit?"

"Where'd Momiji go?"

"Hold on," one of the fanclub girls said, holding up Momiji's clothes, "Aren't theses Momiji's clothes? They are!"

"No way!"

"That's weird! He's not running around here naked is he?"

"And what's with the rabbit? Where did it come from?"

"No kidding! This is weird!"

Yuki sighed. "Could it be any weirder than me?" he murmured pathetically, "It's freakish, a boy in a dress! Uh!"

Everyone immediately ran over to him and started giving him compliments. "Don't say that! You're the greatest!"

"Aw man, if you were a real girl, I'd be all over you! I mean, you know...."

Tohru picked up Momiji and ran out of the room, Kouen following closely behind. "Thank you so much Yuki," Kouen whispered, "Embarrassing yourself like that just to divert everyone's attention."

* * *

Later, the four Sohmas, Tohru, and Kouen gathered on the roof, away from prying eyes. "You little brat!" Kyo exclaimed, "Do you know what you almost did?"

"You are going to be grounded for one week," Hatori said sternly.

"What'd I do?" Momiji mumbled innocently, "Tohru they're scaring me!"

"Leave her alone, it's your own damn fault!"

"I'm very dissapointed in you. We're only lucky that Yuki was able to distract everyone."

Kyo smirked. "Yeah, he just had to bat those pretty eyelashes a couple ti - ah!"

Yuki punched Kyo hard in the face, sending him soaring. "Next time, I'll send you flying off the roof," Yuki hissed.

"Damn rat."

"Momiji you really go have to be more careful," Yuki said.

"Indeed, you'd do well to heed that advice," Hatori said, "I think it's time we went home."

"Aww, come on! I wanted to talk to Tohru and Kouen some more!" Momiji whined from atop Tohru head.

"Yes it would be a shame if you couldn't stay a bit longer," Tohru said sadly.

"Take a moment then," Hatori allowed, "I'll give you that long to say your goodbyes."

"Ha'ri you're so dull!"

"You heard him, now go home!"

"Oh yes," Hatori said, "I almost forgot something very important. Yuki, Kyo stand over there please."

"Huh?"

"What?"

They both lined up along the side of the roof. "I want you both to give me a simple answer to this question," he instrusted.

They started at him anxiously. "What is the last letter of the alphabet?"

"Z." they said in unison.

Click! The camera took a shot just as they both smiled while saying the letter. "Akito wanted me to take a picture of you while I was here," he explained, pcking up Momiji and walking through the door that led off the roof, "That should be a very nice shot. So long."

"Ba-bye!" Momiji said, waving his little yellow paw.

"HATORI!" Kyo shouted angrily, chasing after the man and the bunny, "Get back here!"

"Kyo!" Tohru called after him, "Uh, I should go make sure he doesn't hurt anyone."

She rushed after them, leaving Kouen and Yuki alone on the roof. "This is terrible," Yuki moaned.

Kouen looked over at him in surprise. "I can only imagine what Akito will do when he sees a picture of me like this," he muttered.

He pulled off the coat that went over the dress and began un buttoning the rest. "Yuki, it's cold outside!" Kouen said nervously, "What about your asthma?"

"Anything's better than wearing this stupid outfit!"

"But just think of all the compliments you were getting!"

"It is not a compliment for a man to be called cute."

"Since when?" Kouen asked, "I call guys cute all the time. Lot's of girls do. It just means they like them."

She blushed and stared down at the ground. "Kouen, I'm sorry you had to see me like this," Yuki said shyly, "I must seem pretty foolish to you. And I was, I guess. I suppose I should have just told those senior girls no."

"Well, you know what they say. 'Just say no!'" Kouen teased, "But really, I don't think it's as bad as you think. I know I always liked it when my mom told me I was cute. I might have acted like I didn't really like it but it actually made me feel pretty good. It was one of the ways she told me that she loved me. It always made me so happy. It was just another way she showed her affection, and you know thinking about it, I really miss hearing her say it. And so it just means that everybody likes and, uh.... well, I guess I'm not making much sense am I?"

"Well, I don't know," Yuki said quietly, "Hearing you, when you put it like that, it does make feel a bit better. I suppose I could wear this thing a little longer as a favor to the seniors. But, uh... before I put it on, do you think you could give me a hand? One of the buttons is snagged in my hair."

Kouen laughed and nodded. "Sure," she said, "I can see how a dress like this might be a pain, putting it on, or taking it off."

"But if you tried it on I bet this dress would look good on you."

Kouen blushed bright red. "Well, thanks I guess," she said, "But I'm not much of a dress person. I'm more of a jeans and t-shirt type girl. The only time I don't where normal pants is at school when I have to wear this uniform."

"You'd be cute!"

Kouen blinked in surprise. "In fact I'm sure of it," Yuki looked up at her and grinned, "You'd be very cute, Kouen."

His purple eyes sparkled and Kouen had to remind herself to breath. She smiled back. "Heh," she said weakly.

* * *

"Did you get the camera back?"

"Don't even start!" Kyo snapped, "It wasn't any use."

"Listen, Kouen, Miss Honda," Yuki said to the twins, "About Hatori, if you ever see him again I think it's best that you avoid being anywhere alone with him."

"Oh, why is that?" Tohru asked nervously.

"It's just," he hesitated for a second, "It's not that Hatori himself is a bad person or anything. But still, I told you when I was younger and transformed in front of all those other children. All of their memories had to be erased and the person responsible for that, that person was Hatori. That's the reason why I'm concerned. I thought I should warn the two of you about it now."

A four chime bell came over the intercom and one of the women in the office called over the speaker, "Tohru Honda and Kouen Honda of class 1D. Tohru Honda and Kouen Honda of class 1D. Please come to the first floor conference lounge."

"Is that us?" Tohru said.

"What for I wonder," Yuki said quietly.

"I swear, I haven't done anything," Kouen said, "Recently anyway."

"Well, why would they call me down?" Tohru said nervously.

"Good point. It probably isn't that bad. We should go."

"Okay," Tohru agreed.

They walked down the hall and to the front office. The door slide open and the girls walked in quietly. "Excuse me," Tohru said.

"I apologize for having to page you like that," Hatori said, sitting in one of the chair and smoking a cigarette, "But what with Kyo and Yuki around it didn't seem you and I would have a chance to speak properly."

"We need to leave," Kouen whispered just loud enough for Tohru to hear, "Yuki told us not to be alone with him."

Tohru froze and stood in the doorway. Kouen tugged anxiously on her sister's sleeve, like a kid trying to get a parents attention. "Right to the point then," Hatori said, standing up and putting out the cigarette. He walked over to them and handed them a piece of paper. "This is the address to the main Sohma estate. I want you to come by on your next day off. I believe you and I have several very important matters to discuss. And it goes without saying, you are not allowed to speak of this meeting to Yuki or the others, nor are you allowed to refuse my request. Am I being clear?"

Kouen made a nervous whimpering noise and Tohru's eyes went all swirly. "We understand," they said in unison.

"Don't worry!" Momiji said, popping up behind them, "I'll be here to keep an eye on you! And I'll keep the other one on Ha'ri. So you should come over!"

"I didn't know you were here," Kouen mumbled nervously.

"Momiji," Hatori warned.

"Hey if I were them, I'd be scared to be alone with a creepy guy like you," Momiji said, "So you're gonna come right?"

"I guess that won't be so bad," Kouen murmured.

"Well, we should go," Tohru said, "I promise, the next time we get a day off, we'll come over."

"Very well," Hatori said, "It was very nice meeting you. Come along Momiji."

"See ya later!" Momiji said, following Hatori out the door.

After a few seconds, Kouen said, "I'm telling Yuki!" and she ran from the room.

"No!" Tohru shouted before her twin could get very far, "We can't!"

"There is no way I'm going over to some mind-eraser's house without telling someone!"

"It'll be okay," Tohru soothed, "After all Momiji will be there."

"Oh yeah, that makes me feel so much better."

Tohru sighed. "We can't tell anyone," she said, "Or else we will get our minds erased for sure."

Kouen sighed. "Fine," she said stubbornly.

Tohru nodded. "Still," she said quietly, "I wonder what exactly is going to waiting for us when we get there."

* * *

**Me: Done! Yay! Now you guys don't have to eat me!**

**Kagura: They wouldn't have eaten you... I WOULDN'T HAVE LET THEM!!!**

**Me: Easy Kagura! Everything's okay!**

**Kagura: Okay well I guess this is goodbye! Do you know where Kyo is?**

**Me: On the roof, hiding from you.**

**Kagura: Okay thanks! Kyo! MY LOVE!!! *door slam***

**Me: Well, now that the chapter is over... R&R!!! You'll be on the Wall of Fame! Oh and I'm not sure if I want to do the next chapter when Tohru and Kouen visit Hatori but if you want me to then leave a comment telling me to! Thanks!**


End file.
